Budget Jerry Rig

[CasualWednesdays]

Hello everyone, This is my first post here so please bear with me.
Last week while looking at the specs for epiphone's valve junior (which I'm fairly sure is a replica of the Gibson Skylark or something like that) has a single 12ax7 in the pre. My plan is to run from my guitar into an eq to my pedal board >valve junior> Weber load box > Carver solid state power amp > vintage Jensen 12. My question is will this put me in the Garcia ballpark?

Peace
Steve

[paulinnc]

Try it out and see what it sounds like.

[WildEye]

I don't know about that combo - but would be interested to see if it gets in the ballpark. In my experience getting a super II and an E120 were the biggest leaps to getting the jerry tone...

[JonnyBoy]

IMO, 90 percent of what makes you sound like Jerry is playing like Jerry and that's a lifetime commitment of learning and studying frequently enough to get some of his technique down. (SEE MELKWEG shows where they all play on peavey amps)....still sounds just like Jerry.

I totally agree that you will have to work the setup too and get the tone as close in the ballpark as you can. Crank the highs, mids around noon and bass on 1 or 2. start there and see what happens. It won't be a clone tone of his stage rig, but maybe one he would have liked given the situation, I like stumbling on jerry like tones with other amps, a little different but still familiar. Most of the time you can dial something in with any amp!! 65% pf the time it works 100% of the time.

[CasualWednesdays]

Thanks for the input, I understand that most of the Jerry vibe was in his playing. I just thought that it would pretty cool to have kinda like a micro rig. The VJ is a head and the external cab looks sorta like a 112 piece out of the Wall. If this sounds like anything remotely good it could definitely be good for Garcia tone on the cheaps for someone looking for what ever. And the Peavey Transtube amps are almost perfect for this style, their preamp has a tube emulator with a solid state power amp and to boot the pre is a copy of a fender deluxe.

[tigerstrat]

Thanks for the input, I understand that most of the Jerry vibe was in his playing. I just thought that it would pretty cool to have kinda like a micro rig. The VJ is a head and the external cab looks sorta like a 112 piece out of the Wall. If this sounds like anything remotely good it could definitely be good for Garcia tone on the cheaps for someone looking for what ever. And the Peavey Transtube amps are almost perfect for this style, their preamp has a tube emulator with a solid state power amp and to boot the pre is a copy of a fender deluxe.

2 cents: try it w/o the EQ or put it further down the chain; save up for a hi-efficiency speaker like a JBL, Weber, Commonwealth, EV, whathaveyou. What does the load box do for you?

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

I honestly think you can get a very acceptable Jerry tone if you use an amp with an all-tube preamp where you can really dump all the bass and have tons of treble boosted, and hopefully a full midrange. The key is to greatly reduce the bass response. Even in an old one-tone-knob type vintage tube amp, you can do it if you replace a cap or two in the signal path with cap's of smaller values to choke out the bass response. Then some kind of reasonably decent power amp. Now I'm talking about an acceptable Jerry tone, not necessarily nailing it. But close enough to be happy.

I will say though, the one absolutely indispensable, absolutely required item is a JBL or JBL-like speaker. It's gotta have the aluminum dustcap and 4" voice coil. The speaker is essential and worth every penny. The right speaker is the #1 most critical item in a Jerry rig in my opinion. He went thru all kinds of guitars and pickups and even dabbled with other amps a tiny bit, but the JBL speaker was his constant, up until the tragedy of going direct happened in '93, but we don't like to discuss that sad and dark topic.


B

[jeffm725]

Brad, Sometime you have to tell us how you really feel about his 93 on direct tone

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

I know, I know. I can't let it go. Jerry died two deaths in my world. Once in '93, again in '95...


B

[jeffm725]

I know, I know. I can't let it go. Jerry died two deaths in my world. Once in '93, again in '95...


B

Nah, man I love it, because 1)you are right and 2)your passion is infectious

keep it comin'!!!

[mijknahs]

Hmmm... "budget" Jerry rig. I guess it depends on how you define "budget"?

For me, if I had to start over from scratch today, I'd buy the 1981 Fender Twin Reverb that I saw on Craigslist today (for $350) and buy 2xJBL K120s (for $200 each also on CL). That would give me a good Jerry rig (with some solder work replacing some caps, etc.) that I could regularly gig with.

This would also put me closest to the rig I had back in high school (around 1985 I had a Twin with D120s).

There is usually a 70's Twin for sale for about $500 - $600.

[FretfulDave]

maybe check out the amp from this thread. somewhat on the lower budget side but with possiblities...

viewtopic.php?f=419&t=12490

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

How bout a new Peavey Windsor Studio? Fairly Fenderish schematic, all tube preamp section. Not bad right out of the gate, fairly Jerry in the voicing, could be tweaked if one wanted to.

B

[willmusic]

How bout a new Peavey Windsor Studio? Fairly Fenderish schematic, all tube preamp section. Not bad right out of the gate, fairly Jerry in the voicing, could be tweaked if one wanted to.

B

Is the Windsor 100 watt head the same deal w/ more wattage, or is the schematic different? Off the bat I would assume that it is indeed the same but sometimes it's not the case. I just don't need a combo as I've already got my cab w/ a Commonwealth, and the head is a bit more affordable. -Will

[gpilcher2001]

+ 1 on the the all tube preamp with cap mods! I would like to throw it out there how about a celestion vintage 30 in place of d-k-e120. I was messing around with an e and a k120 this weekend comparing it to a vintage 30. The vintage 30 has tighter bass and lower watts. It was easier to push the speaker also. The e 120 is really kindof thin sounding when you cant get the watts to it. The k works much like the vintage 30. Maybe alittle brighter. Of course the tightness could come from newer speaker. Vintage 30's are 150 new vs. 250 and up for an old jbl speaker. Kinda defeats the on a budget requirement. Anyways imho there different but close enough to get that tone. Greg...