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Marshall JH-1 The Jackhammer
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Marshall JH-1 The Jackhammer

Distortion from Marshall belonging to the Effects series

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Captain Savon Captain Savon

« Could be the ideal pedal, but no, actually »

Published on 08/28/10 at 04:37
OD / distortion with a mid scoop analog frequency adjustable. 7 controls: gain, volume, and scoop freq, treble and bass, type (OD or distortion). Inter true bypass and LED Switching. Runs on 9V battery, AC Classic (tip = GND). Metal casing.

An input jack, output jack.

UTILIZATION

The configuration is easy. Bought used so no manual with it, and I survived. Seen on the Marshall site: the manual is fairly complete, with examples of sounds and even a troubleshooting section, rather simplistic, but it&#39;s something.

The buttons look good but are a bit difficult to reach since they are small and fairly close, but nothing off-putting. The bypass button switches easily, no surprise. It is also quite easy to actuate the mechanical stroke is low, which is fine by me. The LED is visible, and being small, it will consume little. Good for autonomy.

The underside is covered with rubber. It&#39;s good for the grip. on the other hand, because it is a kind of shoe that is glued to the bottom plate of metal, it is problematic when put on a pedal board. For there is little mechanical stress (like the pedal board often transported vertically, in my case), this "sole" is off. Annoying. I was obliged to remove and clean the metal plate to alcohol.

Other concerns, access to the stack is by unscrewing a screw to release the trap is below. But this door is a small metal plate separated from the bottom, and the hinge is made with the "sole" rubber. So when you open the door, it makes a big mechanical stress on the sole, which amplifies the separation thereof. And if we remove the sole (as I have been obliged), and although there is no trapping and the stack walk. Well, once the pedal Velcro-ized on the pedal board, it does not move, but hey, it&#39;s a shame.

It is rather small (just under a wide BOSS). But high enough to cause pimples.

SOUND QUALITY

Basically, I try to get its very own in the acute limit metal, but, you know, not like Metal Zone, something specific and not to gain too high. In fact I try to have the sound of the guitar 101 and Dischord Bluetip. I needed a distortion with a "modern" approach and the ability to make mid scoop in a little advanced. I thought I had found in this pedal the perfect tool, but actually not.

Mainly it is an OD / distortion classic, with a tone control 2 band and a mid scoop adjustable. The difference in OD / Disto is a story of an advantage in gain distortion. Since I&#39;m on Jag Japan, I am all the time distortion, if not mean saturation. Lack a bit of profit margin by moi.La volume is good. It&#39;s good.

The Treble boost is pretty light, I think. But it works pretty well anyway.

The mid-scoop is really interesting Feature of this pedal. Problem: whatever you do, there is a bump in the bass, which makes his rough and mushy. And I can not be overcome with the treble / bass. If I remove the bass sound I get an nazillard, and if I put it, that rumble to death. It&#39;s a shame. But not surprising for an analog equalizer pedal. It hurts me to say this, but this kind of thing is easier to do digitally. Analogue should be without doubt a very complex circuit to balance the power spectrum itself, and especially a setting that avoids having side effects to the nuts (like on-bass boost). Anyway, I digress. Inherently, Scoop control manages the attenuation of mediums. And it attenuates well, there&#39;s margin. Freq knob is effective, too, although the mean frequency variation. But the sound in the end is too unbalanced. So I put very little scoop, and it&#39;s been a distortion of his classic, with lots of mids.

OVERALL OPINION

I for one year. I already had a DS-1, I limit thrown out the window, unable to bear his sound (and the guys in my group not more). Having had a big time punk-psyche, I really grotty effects (big muff, French toast, germanium OD) but I needed a distortion "normal". This one really seemed ideal, but in fact the sound is really unbalanced repulsive. I keep it for now because I have nothing really convincing disto normal. But I&#39;ll change it as soon as I find a pedal that has the sound I want. And I craps round hat could find this * #% $ distortion pedal "normal".

In hindsight I would not have taken. but hey, considering the price (40 € used) is not too big a disappointment. And it is true that there is no equivalent to this kind of feature (adjustable mid-scoop) without falling into typical metal stuff too or very very expensive. Or maybe I just have not found.