Reverb for JTM45

marT · Post by **marT** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:19 pm

Hi all,

My JTM45 will soon be finished and I have really started to like reverb on my classic 30. Mainly for home playing to make it add a bit more ambience. I have also really been getting into peter green stuff which is heavy on the reverb a lot of the time.

So my question is, is there any decent pedals out there that do nice reverb with the JTM45 without sucking too much tone? I asked this on the BYOC forum and most suggested the line6 verbzilla or EH variants but I thought I would ask here too.

I am worried the JTM45 will be too sterile sounding at home playing by myself. With a band this isn't a problem because the other band members add to ambience a bit more + natural gig venue reverb (sometimes).

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:23 am

The ideal unit would be the English released Green Matamp Reverb unit,made in the eighties for a limited time,it is all valve and has the beautiful EF86 tube,which I loved so much in my 1959 Jennings Vox AC-15 TV front amp.This is exactly like the original Orange reverb units Peter was using prior to changing to Fender reverbs,actually the stand alone vintage type Fender reverb unit would be ace witha JTM45.
Back in the day I bought as Alesis Quadraverb as Gary Moore was using it on his blues stuff,but the digital,never got on with my vintage Marshalls to my satisfaction too well.
Also the brilliant WCR Green/Moore set PAFS are killer for the authentic Green tone.
I am tring to find my old English Guitarist mag from the eighties with a review of the Green matamp reverb.
Peter switched to silverfront Twins with FM and actually used a Dual Showman,with '15's as well,but gary on Blues For Greeny,used the Dual Showman,but with Marshall EV loaded 4X12"s.
Any Peter Green questions,shoot me a message by the way

!

yngwie308

marT · Post by **marT** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:08 am

Thanks for the reply.

It will be hard to find that stuff in Australia. Maybe I could keep an eye out on ebay.

This is the current tone I am getting with the peavey reverb, I am quiet impressed with it. Dr Vintage pickups also, absolutely fantastic pickups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg4Qh5gzpEs

I know people don't really like the reverb in the peaveys but if I can get a unit to even replicate that I would be happy.

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:45 pm

That's some mighty fine tone & playing Mar-T...

chad · Post by **chad** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:17 pm

Dang MarT, You have got some great feel their,And some wonderful tone to boot. Nice work. Chad

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:14 pm

Great playing there.marT!The Peavy reverb sounds fine!
Nice work mate,good clip!!

yngwie308

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:37 am

MarT.I have found my magazine,The Guitar N=Magazine;Vol 3 No.3,May 1993.THe article reviews the Green Matamp Reverb Unit versus the Peavey Valverb!
Will post the entire article soon.,you can always have the power supply reconfigured for out 110 volts.ect.
Here is an article about Green amps and the original Orange reveb unit which had a black vinyl coverd case:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... f%26sa%3DN
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=90148

http://www.customaudioboutique.co.nz/showroom.htm
http://plexipalace.com/plexiboard/viewt ... =&p=561484
http://www.matamp.com/mat-mathias.html
http://www.matamp.co.uk/history2.htm
http://www.matamp.co.uk/JIMMYPAGE.htm
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... 9938c98501
http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showf ... ain=429434
http://www.matamp.co.uk/series2000.htm

http://www.axiomatic-music.co.uk/acatal ... 200107.pdf
http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk/gear/f ... er%20Green
http://www.greenamps.com/specs.html
http://www.greenmac.co.uk/reviews.htm
http://p203.ezboard.com/dismantling-my- ... 1482.topic
Hpe this helps,the Green/Orange reverb is more disticntive to me than the fender,ef86 being the differemce.

yngwie308

marT · Post by **marT** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:26 am

Thanks for the kind words guys and thanks very much yngwie308 for all that info!

It will be very useful indeed.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:31 pm

marT,here is the review from the guitarist,which compares the Green Matamp Reverb Unit with the Peavey Valveverb:

Green Matamp Reverb Unit
This visually-striking ans substantial unit is based on the original Matamp reverb,released in 1964,revised in 1966 abs said to be favoured by Peter Green among others.A bit of background is helpful here:the early 'Matamp' brand became 'Orange Matamp',when founder Matt Matthias joined forces with Cliff Cooper,and the new brand( built in Huddersfield) went on to become part of guitar-amp history,with the bright orange cabinets,white front panels and chunky controls being instantly recognisable.In later years,the Orange and Matamp halves seperated again,and both brands changed hands.The present situation is that the new owner of Matamp Jeff Lewis,is marketing a reissue Matamp stack together with this reverb-but can't call them Orange Matamp,or make them Orange,because the 'orange' bit is now owned by Gibson.So the Matamp reissues are bright green,and the name has been amended accordingly.

So to the product itself,built in the original Matamp factory.The chipboard cab is the size of an amp-top,and features green basket-weave vinyl covering,white piping,black plastic corners and a sturdy handle,with wooden 'skids' underneath so the unit will sit over the handle of a combo or head.All controls are on the front.The fascia(black,to match the production version of the amp) is in a plastic material,backed by a metal plate which carries the bulk of the electronics,including the mauns transformers and single PCB.The valves an EF86 and two ECC82's-are board mounted,and the circuitry is deliberately close to the 1964 circuit.While the EF86 is hardly common these days,Jeff Lewis says there should be no trouble getting replacements;customers can order this or or the ECC82s direct from Mtamp,at modest prices.
The PCB is supported purely by the pots and sockets,though the pots are the type with support brackets and the board itself is sturdy;the cab interior is unscreened.
The full-width spring unit(mounted to the cab via rubber grommets)ia an Accutronics of the type used in early Matamps.One oddity is that the front-panel bows inwards slightly,the originals did it too,but Matamp are cosidering cabonet brace to cure this.
Two slots at the rear of the cab allow for ventilation.
Operation is simple,with settings easy to see.The units has two inputs of different sensitivities(at least,they were on the late prototype I auditioned),one output,a footswitch socket(no footswitch provided)plis a chunky mains switch and power indicator-green,of course!The three big rotaries are for volume,tone,and reverb level,and the 'reverb-and-clean-feed/reverb-only switch(originally added in 1966 is present here.Overall the Matamp oozes personality and history.
SOUNDS
Both units were tested with a variety of gear including an early'70's Marshall JMP50 valve head,a Seymour Duncan electro-acoustic combo,and various guitar amps with FX loops.Guitars included solid,semi-solid and hollowbody models.The first thing I noticed about the Matamp-apart from the availability of pleasingly deep,warm-toned reverb-was the amount of amplification on offer.Via the unit's volume control,you can magnify the signal greatly;this means you can overdrive the front-end of your amp if you wish-or keep the volume control really low for something nearer to unity gain.
If yhe input signal is dynamic and snappy,then the Matamp preserves this quality well.This is important,because there's no point robbing of your old valve amp of its livliness just to add reverb.Similary,I found the Matamp complemented the tone of good valve amps;its preamp (judged by the 100% dry setting)wasn't as neutral as the Peavey's,but the slight upper-mid lift and loss of bass warmth that I sometimes noticed did bring out that crisp,valve-y 'twang' very well.
As with the Peavey,there are three main ways to use this product;between guitar and amp;in an amp's effects loop;and in the Aux loop of a mixer/Portastudio with the unit set to 'reverb-only'.And as with the Peavey,you may run into problems with earth loops,causing annoying buzz/hum,depending how your other gear is designed.Whenever indepemdently-earthed items of mains gear are joined by signal leads,this problem can rear its head-and for safety reasons you can't simply remove one of the earths.The best advice is to try any prospective purchase with your own gear before you buy,and take professional advice if there is a problem.The Matamp I tested always gave some degree pf unwanted buzz when used between guitar and amp;in FX loops,it was sometimes silent and sometimes buzzy depending on the individual case.
Jeff Lewis assured me that in production models the earthing arrangements have been revised and that none of the units tested at the factory have given any problem in this direction.
Both units gave a reverb sound which was warmer,and easier on the ear,than modestly-priced digital reverbs;the way the reverb decays is important here.And although the Matamp's front panel was quite microphonic.I had no trouble with the reverb feeding back at higher sound-levels unless the unit was placed on top of a big amp and cabinet played at full tilt.The depth of reverb was more than adequate,so the maximum setting-which was less than smooth sounding-probably wouldn't be needed.
I will list the Peavey Valverb review later.
I have seen many pictures of Peter Green and FM with the Matamp(Orange) reverb units live,I believe with some tweaking and changing the mains transformer to accept 115volts,this with the gain descibed would give a great warm sound!

yngwie308

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:28 am

Some more data on Matamp,boy do I want one in the worst way!!

http://www.matamp.co.uk/news.htm

anybody with Orange reverb unit drawings or mods to the Matamps,out there? This was a huge part of Peter's early sound,both live and
yngwie308in the studio,
here is the link to the Orange/Matamp forum:
http://www.orange-amps.com/forum/topic. ... hichpage=2

http://www.vintagebass.com/thedudepit/s ... nextoldest

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:48 am

The Matamp story goes all the way back to the beginning of rock'n'roll: Mat Mathias was a German Jew who was evacuated to the UK as a child during WWII - his first job was as a cinema projectionist and it was probably this which inspired his interest in electronics. With a post-war grant from the German government Mat started his own company, initially working from a garden shed, with the self-taught ability to fix almost anything electronic quickly earning him the nickname 'The Radio Doctor'. Continued success led to Radiocraft (Huddersfield) moving to larger premises in King Street and becoming a limited company in 1958. Mat's love of music also led him to build a recording studio used by many local artists and groups: with almost every contemporary guitarist using Vox amplification, a search for alternative sounds prompted Mat to design his own circuit, and in 1963 after many one-off prototypes the first production model was the Matamp Series 2000 - an amplifier with its own special place in British popular music history, and arguably just as significant as Marshall's 1962 'Blues breaker' or Vox's AC30. Why? Well, the next time you hear a recording of 'Albatross' (the haunting instrumental which took Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac to No 1 in the charts and world fame in 1969), listen carefully - the guitar is that famous sunburst Les Paul standard, and the amp making it sound so rich and warm is a Series 2000, used with a Matamp 'piggyback' valve reverb unit

http://www.matamp.co.uk/JIMMYPAGE.htm

A Marshall Reverb unit:
http://www.twotribesmusic.co.uk/cgi-bin ... tar%20Amps
http://www.matamp.com/guitarist-magazine.html

http://www.ampaholics.org.uk/marshall_c ... il_amp.htm
http://www.geocities.com/abexile/jimisgear.html

http://www.matamp.com/mat-mathias.html
This place seems to have the black and white 2000 series reverb unit as used by Pete Green:
http://www.customaudioboutique.co.nz/contact.htmAnd they are in New Zeakand,not to far from old Aussie!

Series 2000 Reissue - The legendary SERIES 2000, painstakingly re-created and reissued for our 60th Anniversary. The SERIES 2000 was the amp used by Peter Green to create the legendary tones on Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross". Only 60 units of this incredible reissue are being made - due to the limited availability, the amps will get sold on a "first come, first served" basis ...

So it looks as if the 2000 series Mtamp amp amd reveb ares till being built,marT as you are close maybe you could check it out,I 'know' that it will give the most authentic Greemy reverb tone,bar none.
It has been fascinating researching this old feverb hunit that gives a lot of gain to the circuit,much as ab old echoplex!
yngwie308

marT · Post by **marT** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:45 am

I really really want one but good luck me finding one or even affording one.

I might just have to go digital

philmanatee · Post by **philmanatee** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 1:04 am

That's got to be a pretty simple circuit. If anyone came up with the schematic I'd probably make one just to hear it. I've got a couple vintage fender units an an italian made eko unit that all have their own sound. Phil

Tuco · Post by **Tuco** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:03 pm

yngwie, thanks for all this great info. I too am now jonesing for one of these! Given the level of build expertise on this forum (not me), I would think this would be a desirable and affordable project. Anyone? Please?

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:35 pm

I found out recently after inquiries to the factory that the reverb units are still being made for 495 pounds sterling including delivery!!!

Hi David,
Yes we still make the reverb inc delivery