Non ADA Gear > Amps
Jackson JX3
Soloist:
Jackson JX3 preamp, anyone here ever tried one of these?
From what I can tell they were made for Jackson by Laney, 2 channel non midi controllable. However I can use the relay in my G major 2 for changing channels and activating the boost function. Picked one up real cheap, should have it in a day or so. Was wondering if anyone had any experience with one.
rnolan:
Hey Soloist, never came across them myself, seems ok from the couple of youtube clips I watched. Be interesting to hear what you think when you get it up and going.
Soloist:
Ok Richard, I picked up the Jackson preamp today and ran it through my rig for a couple hours. :headbanger:
First a little description:
2 channel each with independent tone controls and levels.
Stereo master line outs and stereo cab sim line outs.
Fx loop, mono in stereo out.
Bright switch and a boost switch they call a shred switch, with a second gain knob.
Dual 12ax7 tubes.
2 additional rear jacks, one for channel switching the other to engage the boost function.
Preliminary findings:
The clean channel (channel A) is a very nice clean channel.
Can get a nice low gain tone ala David Gilmour by pushing it with either a Boss SD1 or an Ibanez Tube Screammer.
Channel B is your typical 80's metal tone ala Glenn Tipton. Good bite to it, really makes pinch harmonics jump out at you.
Distortion isn't really that adjustable. No real difference from 6 to 10. The shred button also has a gain knob. To me it doesn't really add more gain but it adds some more saturation to it, plus about a 5db boost.
So far it seems like a decent preamp especially for $50. It was well taken care of, clean as a whistle with 2 new Stovek tubes in it.Do I like it better than my Mp1...no. Do I like it better than my Mp2....no. I would say it's as good as my JMP1.
Short comings:
Tone controls are kinda limited imo. I would like more adjustment but an eq helps get what I want.
Not impressed with the fx loop. Luckily I don't need it fx run through the loop in my rack mixer.
Kind of a 2 trick pony due to the lack of super high gain.
With bright switch off to me it's too dark on either channel.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7. :thumb-up:
rnolan:
Hey Soloist, good to know :wave: . Listening to a couple YT clips demoing it I had some similar reactions (not that they were very thorough) but as you say, not a bad score for $50 (which is close to what 2 Sovtecs would cost LoL). One clip I listened to played a little clean stuff which I thought was quite a decent clean sound. And the pinch squeals were nice and prominent (as you say, jump out at you) particularly on the other clip.
Thanks for the heads up :thumb-up:
MarshallJMP:
Nice I always thought these where solid state preamps?
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