How much did the McIntoshess color Jerrys sound?

[ricepr]

Or yours if you use them?

basically just the biggest and cleanest at the time compared to Twin Reverbs?

[TI4-1009]

McC's?

[ricepr]

McC's?

McIntoshes. Sorry.

[gr8fullfred]

The trick is that the Macs do not color the sound, that is why they are great. Or at least they color the sound less than any other amp. Its the preamp and the effects that do the coloring. The amp is supposed to reproduce exactly what is coming in. They Macs have the superior ability to control the speaker (damping factor). What goes in comes out amplified without coloring. That is the goal of an amplifier. Macs do it better than the others. MC2300 anyone?

[mijknahs]

I disagree. The McIntosh will color the sound. It's not simply the preamp sound - but louder. A McIntosh will color the sound in a great musical way. But I would say that a modified Twin on it's own (using the tube power section) sounds pretty good and gets a good Jerry sound but the McIntosh (as with any power amp) will color the sound in some way.

How much? Well since I can get a pretty good Jerry sound without a McIntosh, yet better with a McIntosh, I'd say maybe about 5-10 percent. It also depends on how good you can get your tube amp to sound running the tube power section. I'm loving my KT66s for power tubes much better than 6L6s.

The JBL speakers (or something close like Beymas) I think are much more important for that tone than the McIntosh. You can get a great Jerry sound with a good Fender style tube amp and a cab with JBLs.

For a mid-80's tone, a DiMarzio Super II split coil in the middle position into a Fender Twin with a separate 2x12 JBL E120 cabinet will be very close. If you want to kick it up a notch, get a McIntosh. But its more of the icing on the cake. It also depends on how trained your ear is (how picky you are). Can you tell the difference between JBL K120s and JBL E120s? I can but my wife can't.

[williamsaut]

I've always thought, ( hoped ) that part of the hair that I love in Jerry's 80's sound is the Mc2300 clipping. How every note, no matter how hard or soft it is picked, has that same low level of sizzle to it that doesn't go overboard when he digs in. Just the picking dynamics and clean gain starts to show more. The hair on the lead edge of the note is the same.

OR could have been the Sennheiser 401 mic on the cab starting to show it's response.

On that point, the mic on the cab is a tone modifier yes? Great board recordings are a good source for analyzing Jerry's tone.

Has anyone here pushed a Mcintosh to really clip hard? What's it sound like? I haven't done it yet. I want to get a Mc50 so I can do it without excessive volume. Any thoughts?

[williamsaut]

Sennheiser 421 that is.

[mijknahs]

I've always thought, ( hoped ) that part of the hair that I love in Jerry's 80's sound is the Mc2300 clipping. How every note, no matter how hard or soft it is picked, has that same low level of sizzle to it that doesn't go overboard when he digs in. Just the picking dynamics and clean gain starts to show more. The hair on the lead edge of the note is the same.

OR could have been the Sennheiser 401 mic on the cab starting to show it's response.

On that point, the mic on the cab is a tone modifier yes? Great board recordings are a good source for analyzing Jerry's tone.

Has anyone here pushed a Mcintosh to really clip hard? What's it sound like? I haven't done it yet. I want to get a Mc50 so I can do it without excessive volume. Any thoughts?

An MC50 just barely at the edge of clipping sounds awesome. My MC100 just starting to clip sounds beautiful. Usually can only get that kind of response at an outdoor gig.

[tigerstrat]

When we do play at these louder volumes, how sure are we that the clipping we begin to hear is the power amp* being overdriven versus, say, the speakers** ?

* be it McIntosh or other
** be they JBL or other

[mijknahs]

When we do play at these louder volumes, how sure are we that the clipping we begin to hear is the power amp* being overdriven versus, say, the speakers** ?

* be it McIntosh or other
** be they JBL or other

It's pretty easy to tell if you're playing an MC50. They will clip at a fairly reasonable level (not that loud). They can get pretty crunchy. When I hear the clipping on my MC100, it is very similar to the MC50 but less. I don't get this with more powerful power amps. Therefore I don't think its the JBLs clipping. I think it must be coming before it's getting to the speakers.

[Jon S.]

I have an MC50 incoming right now and look forward to finally testing its capabilities personally.