REVIEWED
HANDS ON... The Band
THIS MONTH: Rise Against
Blowing in from the Windy City (that’s Chicago, in case you didn’t guess) melodic hardcore band Rise Against recently took on board a truck load of steamin’ hot Marshall
JCM 900 amps as their backline of choice as they head out on a huge world tour in support of their latest album Endgame. The band recently celebrated the album charting at # and #
27 in the UK, # 1 in Germany and Rise Against are flat out on a mad touring
schedule to promote their new LP. Recently they returned to their native US after a month long European tour and are now gearing up to hit the road again, a stint which will see them taking in Australia and the UK when Rise Against perform on the main stages at the Leeds and Reading Festivals. Rise Against are a pretty right-on bunch, their avowed support for various animal rights and environmental causes has seen them win accolades from US animal rights organization PETA for their uncompromising video accompanying their song Ready to Fall, which showed unflinching footage of factory farming, hunting and various other practices deemed not to be in the best interests of our furry and feathered friends! Rise Against follow in the footsteps of earlier post hardcore bands like Fugazi who espoused similar liberal views whilst also promoting a so-called ‘straight edge’ lifestyle free from alcohol and drugs, not the typical MO of a young rock and roll band!
Rising Force: Zach Blair from Rise Against
The JCM 900's overdrive channel has a solid state diode in the pre amp to generate its powerful distorted tones…
Marshall JCM 900
Rise Against have made a wise choice with the Marshall JCM 900. The JCM 900 series first appeared in the 1990s and heralded a move towards channel switching high-gain amps, especially in response to several big name guitarists claims that they were having their old Marshall amps modified to achieve more preamp distortion. It might surprise you to know that the JCM 900 used a solid state diode in the preamp on the overdrive channel to achieve its classic distortion tones. Many guitarists loved the sound and found that it also worked very well in conjunction with the 900’s sparkling all-tube clean channel, making a pretty formidable and versatile combination. The quality of the JCM 900 clean channel is often overlooked but the JCM 900 can deliver some of the richest and sweetest clean
18 3pickup Still a force to be reckoned with 20 years on… the Marshall JCM 900
sounds that we’ve heard anywhere and with 100 watts of EL-34 tube driven Marshall headroom to back it up you’ve got enough headroom to crank it up without distortion. Still, if you do prefer things a bit on the crunchier side then the clean channel’s gain knob has plenty of scope for balancing the bias between clean and overdrive. Nice! As a child of the 90s, the JCM 900 also features a series effects loop with an adjustable level control that balances the effects loop to work equally well if you are using rack effects (very 90s!) or stomp boxes. The current Marshall JCM 900 series features one model, the 100 watt 4100 head, and this amp is still one mean mofo; if you are looking for an amp that will cover a multitude of tasks simply and with bags of power and range, then the Marshall JCM 900 is still very much a force to be reckoned with. PM
2 in the US
LEARN THE SECRETS OF MARSHALL USERS’ TONES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68