"Dimed" Marshall's

[IndyWS6]

I've used my JTM45 (30 watts) for many gigs for the last five or so years. I can count on one hand how many times I've been able to "dime" it. It's VERY loud. Fortunately for me it sounds good around 3 on the dial. Does it sound as good as it does on 10? No.

My 150 watt Triple Rec will crack a foundation.

I think you need a permit or something to get permission from the government to "dime" a Mesa Triple Rectifier.

I know what you mean... I'm sure with 50% more watts your Triple Rec would best my 100-watter in a volume contest by a few DB but, hell, both of them can move enough air to push a concrete block uphill. Does a Rec "like" to be dimed? You hear it all the time for Marshall's - not so much with the Mesa gear.

 

[Anonymous]

The biggest thing people overlook when trying to get the Van Halen type tone is how Eddie beat the ever loving shit out of the guitar when he picked.

I've been saying this for years. If you don't pick insane heavy, you won't get that sound even with his original rig. Watch his left hand as well - also heavy, heavy touch...

Steve

Sure wish I knew the secret (or had the skill) for that. If I cut loose with a heavy left hand, I just pull everything out of tune and my already atrocious playing becomes even more apparent. I have a fairly strong right hand and the outside edge of my thumb can be an adequate battering ram, so I can hammer the piss out of a set of strings but, once again, finesse and control elude me for the most part.

Long story short, he's Eddie - I never will be.

Neither will I, but I kinda have the right hand feel down... Check it out:

Romeo Delight!

It's a blessing and a curse really because there is so much you just can't do with that right hand technique... IMO, of course...

Steve

 

[70strathead]

Nothing....NOTHING....sounds like a flat out Marshall through a good cabinet with a Les Paul or good Strat. I always ran the bass off on mine and it still had plenty of beef down low....but it makes a man out of you if plug straight in.....not much to hide behind and very unforgiving...can't go in half assed or the amp will be chew you up and spit you out.The biggest thing people overlook when trying to get the Van Halen type tone is how Eddie beat the ever loving shit out of the guitar when he picked.

+100!

 

[rupe]

I think "diming" applies to the volume knob or knobs. The tone knobs still need to be tweaked. Dime the bass, and you have mush! Dime the treble, and you cut head off! Know what I mean?

Also, there are some Marshalls that don't like to be dimed. The newer multi channel stuff comes to mind. Anything over 7 on the master sounds like overkill. Even my Vintage Modern didn't like being full up on the volume.

You'd be right when talking about more modern amps, but when people talked about diming an old Marshall back in the day, it was everything on 10. The tone stack on an old Marshall doesn't have much range. Cranking everything doesn't lead to mushy lows or piecing highs...just a little "more" of everything.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I've used my JTM45 (30 watts) for many gigs for the last five or so years. I can count on one hand how many times I've been able to "dime" it. It's VERY loud. Fortunately for me it sounds good around 3 on the dial. Does it sound as good as it does on 10? No.

My 150 watt Triple Rec will crack a foundation.

I think you need a permit or something to get permission from the government to "dime" a Mesa Triple Rectifier.

I know what you mean... I'm sure with 50% more watts your Triple Rec would best my 100-watter in a volume contest by a few DB but, hell, both of them can move enough air to push a concrete block uphill. Does a Rec "like" to be dimed? You hear it all the time for Marshall's - not so much with the Mesa gear.

That's sort of the thing. Rectifiers like being at gig level. Not below, not above. The thing with older stock Marshalls is that a lot of times they need to be dialed way way above appropriate gig levels to be their happiest. More of an effective stadium amp really, most guys I know around here aren't playing stadiums though

 

[Shawn Lutz]

I've only dime'd the volume on a Master Volume JCM800 2203/04's. really no determinable difference between 7-10 but loud as fuck

Diming the EQ would sound like crap to me...

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

I think "diming" applies to the volume knob or knobs. The tone knobs still need to be tweaked. Dime the bass, and you have mush! Dime the treble, and you cut head off! Know what I mean?

Also, there are some Marshalls that don't like to be dimed. The newer multi channel stuff comes to mind. Anything over 7 on the master sounds like overkill. Even my Vintage Modern didn't like being full up on the volume.

I always assume that when people are asking about diming any Marshall it's referring to a NMV 4 holer. If you've got a good one, everything on 10 but the bass into a quad of extremely broken in greenbacks sounds remarkably well balanced with just the right amount of lows, mids, and highs when playing on a really good sounding guitar. If you've got a less than stellar head, or are playing through a harsher sounding speaker or have uber hot pickups in your guitar, some tweaking to the treble and prescence may be needed, but with most Marshalls I've owned or own, flat out was easily preferable to me and my guitar geek squad. I suggest every guitar player plug straight into one(even attenuated) and evaluate their playing afterward. One of my good friends is a Bogner junkie and he plays pretty well....he whines like a school girl when playing through my Marshalls cause of lack of compression(in comparison) and gain. It really makes you take a step back and focus on technique...I think it's actually more unforgiving than playing through a loud clean amp.

 

[JTyson]

thats the beauty of old marshalls. dime em and use the volume control on the guitar. They arent high gain really so........if youve done it you would be addicted to it. the amp has to be set up right and in great shape. but its perfection.

But even with the gain backed down, wouldn't 100 watts be brutally loud? With the H&K, even a completely clean setting at anything above "3" on the master volume will sterilize small woodland creatures....

ive never seen a HK schematic so....??
I know I couldnt dime my boogie mark III but I prob wouldnt want too..... some amps sound crappy dimed. they feedback. thats why so much Marshall love.

Yep, I used MK III's for years, they dont sound good at all dimed. "tubby" is the word that comes to mind

 

[samtheman]

The thread from "samtheman" reminded me of a question I wanted to ask. Or maybe I asked it before, but lost the brain cell the answer was stored on. Regardless...

"Diming" an amp means that you turn the SOB all the way up, correct? All knobs on "10"? If so, how is that even possible? I don't have a Marshall (yet) , but I have a 100W H&K Switchblade. I have never been able to turn the master volume past three - ever. We played an outdoor gig a few weeks ago with a massive PA and I actually needed a little more stage volume; when I checked the dial, I had turned the master all the way up to "2 1/4". I know that the difference in the volume change from "0" to "3" is substantially more than it would be from "3" to "10" (it's not exponential...), but 100 watts, fully cranked, would be brutally loud, right? On "3", in a 2-car garage practice space, my amp is so loud that it's physically painful.

Aside from the volume question, how do you tame an amp at that level? At "3", with a high-gain preset loaded up, I would have to wrap my guitars in a blanket to control feedback. Granted, my amp is only 6 feet away, but even if I'm on the other side of the room, at high-volume and high-gain settings, it's a bear to manage.

Sam was sitting in a room with his Marshall's - dimed. I know that some of them were 50 watters, but the volume difference at full bore is almost negligible. Assuming that no attenuation devices were harmed in the making of the videos, how is that possible? How is Sam still concious? I haven't tried it, but I don't see how I could pull that off. I suspect my amp is on par with a 100W Marshall in terms of how loud it can get so I'm curious how you guys/gals control the beast.

Sorry for being a n00b...

We all had earplugs

/sam

 

[diagrammatiks]

it is loud as heck.

however as a lot of people said the difference between 3 and 10 isn't that much.

A lot of 100 watt amps will run out of clean headroom at around 3-4 on the volume dial anyway.

between 4-10 the wattage will really only run up to about 150-180 barely louder then 100.

 

[steve_k]

The thread from "samtheman" reminded me of a question I wanted to ask. Or maybe I asked it before, but lost the brain cell the answer was stored on. Regardless...

"Diming" an amp means that you turn the SOB all the way up, correct? All knobs on "10"? If so, how is that even possible? I don't have a Marshall (yet) , but I have a 100W H&K Switchblade. I have never been able to turn the master volume past three - ever. We played an outdoor gig a few weeks ago with a massive PA and I actually needed a little more stage volume; when I checked the dial, I had turned the master all the way up to "2 1/4". I know that the difference in the volume change from "0" to "3" is substantially more than it would be from "3" to "10" (it's not exponential...), but 100 watts, fully cranked, would be brutally loud, right? On "3", in a 2-car garage practice space, my amp is so loud that it's physically painful.

Aside from the volume question, how do you tame an amp at that level? At "3", with a high-gain preset loaded up, I would have to wrap my guitars in a blanket to control feedback. Granted, my amp is only 6 feet away, but even if I'm on the other side of the room, at high-volume and high-gain settings, it's a bear to manage.

Sam was sitting in a room with his Marshall's - dimed. I know that some of them were 50 watters, but the volume difference at full bore is almost negligible. Assuming that no attenuation devices were harmed in the making of the videos, how is that possible? How is Sam still concious? I haven't tried it, but I don't see how I could pull that off. I suspect my amp is on par with a 100W Marshall in terms of how loud it can get so I'm curious how you guys/gals control the beast.

Sorry for being a n00b...

We all had earplugs

/sam

 

[Anonymous]

WHAT??

 

[jcj]

Tried a Blakenship dimed out with a Variac at 90 volts...that was COOL!

Had to drop the bass to 3, or so, otherwise too mushy, for me.

Sweet sound, though

 

[dstroud]

Tried a Blakenship dimed out with a Variac at 90 volts...that was COOL!

Had to drop the bass to 3, or so, otherwise too mushy, for me.

Sweet sound, though

Roy's awesome. He helped me out with my Ceriatone 1987 - helped me with some components to get it like his Variplex - I love those amps! You should play his little 18 and 20 watters - those things are sweet!