Peavey JSX/Triple X II owners

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JohnnyGtar

JohnnyGtar

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If you own a Peavey JSX head or combo or a Triple X II head I'd like to hear what you like and don't like about them. I decided to check out a few YouTube clips and I'm very impressed. I've owned a 5150 and a first run Triple X and just by listening to YouTube clips, I prefer the JSX by a mile.
 
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I don't currently own either right now, but have played both rather extensively back when. I do have a Randall MTS module modded to be a copy of the JSX circuit.

The module sounds really close to what I remember the JSX & XXX sounding like. The one thing that stood out to me; mainly on the XXX, was the insane amount of gain on the ultra channel. Anything past 3/10 on the gain knob was overly excessive. Even the Crunch channel had huge amounts of gain. The JSX was no slouch in the gain department either.

The JSX is a modified XXX having slightly different features, tad more upper mids, a slightly tweaked active EQ and not quite as much gain. That's at least for the JSX crunch channel. I'm also fairly certain the Ultra channel on the JSX is a 1:1 copy of the Crunch channel from the XXX.

Outside of excessive gain, the only complaint was the tacky mud flap girl aesthetics in the XXX. Keeping up with the naming conventions when Joe Satriani left Peavey was also confusing at the time too. .
Started with the XXX and JSX.
When Satriani left the JSX was renamed the XXX II
XXX was renamed 3120 and came stock with EL-34's instead of 6L6's
 
I love my JSX. I think it's better than the JVM410HJS I had. I wasn't looking for a Satch sound so much as a flavor of British tones with the option for a bit more gain and better tone shaping.

One caveat is the JSX bias test points. I wrestled with mine for days until I found out it was a common problem:

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/peavey amp page.htm

Also, they work with either EL34s or 6L6-type tubes, but my tech wanted to beef up the screen resistors or something like that for the EL34s.
 
Biggest mistake I ever made was selling my JSX head. Thing was a beast but I was younger and wanted to go a different path with modeling. I chose “poorly”. The hidden jem inside the JSX that you don’t hear about is how the clean channel is really good with crazy headroom. I still have my XXX combo. I want a JSX again. Maybe 2024. They are on the cheap.
 
MusicIsLife said:
I love my JSX. I think it's better than the JVM410HJS I had. I wasn't looking for a Satch sound so much as a flavor of British tones with the option for a bit more gain and better tone shaping.

One caveat is the JSX bias test points. I wrestled with mine for days until I found out it was a common problem:

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/peavey amp page.htm

Also, they work with either EL34s or 6L6-type tubes, but my tech wanted to beef up the screen resistors or something like that for the EL34s.
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I like the JSX better than the JVM HJS as well. Still wished I owned the JSX, it wouldn't be my main amp but I'd still like to own one for flavor.

I also preferred 6L6's in the JSX to beef it up some, played one gig with the 34's and they got removed right after.

The JSX is much like the JVM HJS, a streamlined more tame version of the XXX and or JVM410. That said JSX has tons of gain, fantastic clean channel and a usable crunch channel. For me the XXX Ultra was overkill and I'm a guy who loves gain.

JSX is right up there with the favorite amps I've owned.
 
JSX is one of the best " bang for your buck " amps out there ..... just heads up on biasing them ..... it's pretty well known I think at this point that the Bias points on the outside of the amp don't actually represent the actual measurements at the Tubes ..... You need something like a Eurotubes Pro 1 to bias correctly

I worked on one and had it in my shop for a good month or so .... GREAT Amp
 
I had a JSX until quite recently. I liked it. It had a very good clean channel and in the high gain area it melted faces. Sold it after I shot it out against my Marshall JVM 410HJS (the other Satriani signature amp) because I just didn't love it in the end. It kicked the Marshalls butt for high gain but the Marshall had the edge everywhere else. I also have a 3120 which is similar but I much prefer, so the JSX had to go.

Pros:
+ Great cleans
+ Great high gain channels
+ Built like a brick shithouse
+ Affordable on the used market
+ Resonance and Presence dials
+ Adjustable fx loop send and receive
+ Can take both 6L6 and EL34 family power tubes

Cons:
- Heavy as a small moon
- The active EQ is too effective in my opinion which made it hard for me to dial the sweet spot in the high end
- Not a huge fan of the chrome elements on the faceplate
- The onboard gate is a joke
 
Very fun amps. Both have the typical peavey honkiness in the mid range like the 5150, so run your mids low. Orange channel with a boost is the best sound the amp has. Red channel is cool, but gets to be a little too much with its gain. Can run it super low and boost as well. Like JB said the gate sucks, I legitimately don’t know if it actually even does anything at all. EL34s are the way to go for this amp. For the price they are great amps. A bit more reliable than 5150s in my experience too.
 
Funny this thread popped up. I’ve been waiting for a xxx to pop up for sale.
 
Bram576 said:
Like JB said the gate sucks, I legitimately don’t know if it actually even does anything at all.
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Yeah, the gate seems more like single-ended noise reduction than an actual gate. Turn it up and it takes out some of the hiss. Not terribly useful to me.

I also wish the JSX had MIDI, but that's a small gripe.
 
I’d take a JSX over a 5150/6505 any day. When they first came out I had issues really getting a tone out of them that I liked. But years later learning about the active EQ, the thing is a beast.

It’s one of my go to amps on my STL amp hub software. Sounds pretty much just like I recall that amp sounding in person.

One gripe with it is that I never found a use for the fat switch. No matter the guitar and pickup combo, it always made everything sound too bloated , so it always stayed off and I’d turn the bass knob up a hair for a little more. Never did try it with single coils, so maybe that’s where the switch would have made a positive difference.

Great amp though! Would love to try a XXX II since that’s supposed to be a JSX with some more friendly tweaks from that I’ve heard.
 
I’ve had both amps and vastly prefer the JSX. The Ultra channel on the XXX is unusable to me and I don’t like the “damping switch” feature either. Both amps have the active EQ which is just not very good IMO, but still the JSX has some good tones in it.

The clean channel on the JSX is extremely clean and if you were to somehow get it to overdrive it wouldn’t be good, but it takes pedals very well. It’s great if you want a pristine clean with a lot of headroom.

The Crunch channel is a surprisingly good modded Marshall sound, with the only catch being the unswitchable diode clipping. To me it’s very prominent in the tone of that channel in particular so if like some you don’t like the sound of the diode clipping on, say, a Silver Jubilee you may not like this amp in general. With some speakers in particular I felt like the clipping on the Crunch channel sort of “poked” through with a certain sharp peak frequency that could get annoying.
 
KentC said:
I’d take a JSX over a 5150/6505 any day. When they first came out I had issues really getting a tone out of them that I liked. But years later learning about the active EQ, the thing is a beast.

It’s one of my go to amps on my STL amp hub software. Sounds pretty much just like I recall that amp sounding in person.

One gripe with it is that I never found a use for the fat switch. No matter the guitar and pickup combo, it always made everything sound too bloated , so it always stayed off and I’d turn the bass knob up a hair for a little more. Never did try it with single coils, so maybe that’s where the switch would have made a positive difference.

Great amp though! Would love to try a XXX II since that’s supposed to be a JSX with some more friendly tweaks from that I’ve heard.
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Funny enough I had two JSX heads quite a span of time apart from each other, and with the first one I never used the fat switches for the same reason you stated, that it just became too bloated and loose.

On my second one that I picked up a few years ago, I had the opposite experience where I found myself using the fat switch more often than not. This time it was more like the fat switches filled out the low mids more, and with some EQ tweaking I found it thickened up the crunch channel in a good way.
 
MusicIsLife said:
I love my JSX. I think it's better than the JVM410HJS I had. I wasn't looking for a Satch sound so much as a flavor of British tones with the option for a bit more gain and better tone shaping.

One caveat is the JSX bias test points. I wrestled with mine for days until I found out it was a common problem:

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/peavey amp page.htm

Also, they work with either EL34s or 6L6-type tubes, but my tech wanted to beef up the screen resistors or something like that for the EL34s.
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That was needed for E34L's in the early runs.
 
Bardagh said:
I’ve had both amps and vastly prefer the JSX. The Ultra channel on the XXX is unusable to me and I don’t like the “damping switch” feature either. Both amps have the active EQ which is just not very good IMO, but still the JSX has some good tones in it.

The clean channel on the JSX is extremely clean and if you were to somehow get it to overdrive it wouldn’t be good, but it takes pedals very well. It’s great if you want a pristine clean with a lot of headroom.

The Crunch channel is a surprisingly good modded Marshall sound, with the only catch being the unswitchable diode clipping. To me it’s very prominent in the tone of that channel in particular so if like some you don’t like the sound of the diode clipping on, say, a Silver Jubilee you may not like this amp in general. With some speakers in particular I felt like the clipping on the Crunch channel sort of “poked” through with a certain sharp peak frequency that could get annoying.
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With V30's, it was definitely more prominent. I used Greenbacks with my JSX's. That's still in my all-time top 5 favorite amps. I'd own another one if the heads weren't so damn heavy. About 60lbs, combo weighs about 85. My 54 year old back and two bad discs say NO more. JSX's are just plain killer with JJ KT77's. Competes with many amps costing WAY more.
 
napalmdeath said:
With V30's, it was definitely more prominent. I used Greenbacks with my JSX's. That's still in my all-time top 5 favorite amps. I'd own another one if the heads weren't so damn heavy. About 60lbs, combo weighs about 85. My 54 year old back and two bad discs say NO more. JSX's are just plain killer with JJ KT77's. Competes with many amps costing WAY more.
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Yeah V30’s definitely highlight it. It was something I wouldn’t mind at first but over time it would annoy me. Greenbacks or T-75’s are good choices.
 
tpruitt said:
Funny this thread popped up. I’ve been waiting for a xxx to pop up for sale.
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People are getting nutty with their prices, and it's a beast to ship.

Last XXX I owned I bought off an original owner that rarely played it for $350 cash on CL. I tricked it out cosmetically.. Think I sold it to butternuts on this forum... I put JJ 6CA7's in it, and it was punishing. Instant regret selling it.

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Bardagh said:
Yeah V30’s definitely highlight it. It was something I wouldn’t mind at first but over time it would annoy me. Greenbacks or T-75’s are good choices.
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Yeah, I hated V30's with it. 75's really pummeled with some volume.. I always cranked the Master to about 10:00 o'clock and used the channel volumes. Love that amp!
 
I had a JSX when they came out. It was ok, though it just was never very loud. Had it checked out and all was as it should be, just not loud like it should have been IMO.
 
They all have an obscene amount of gain and benefit greatly from a lower gain pre tube.
The XXX is the most raw and aggressive of the three imo.
 
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