JVM in small form?

[Jetfire]

So, Ive been looking at smaller combos to use at home and take about to jam with. Essentially, I love my JVM clean head room (clean ALL the way up) so Im looking for something that does mega clean all the way up and then maybe a lovely OD pedal in front of it. We don't practice mega loud so was thinking something like a Marshall Lead 12 or similar with an OD pedal, esp as they are cheapy cheap. I had a Ht5 but the clean broke up far too early for me..

Thoughts? Suggestions? Or shall I just man up and carry on with my 2 x 12 and JVM head and all the leads etc.

[ICBM]

The Lead 12 won't be loud enough even with a better speaker - I put a G12H-30 and now a V30 in my Reverb 12 and although it's *much* louder and fuller-sounding than it was with the original 10" speaker, I still don't think it would cut it for clean headroom at even a quiet practice.

The good news is that other models in the 1980s Solid State series could well be, and sell for dirt cheap considering their power, build quality and reliability. The 50W Split-Channel, Master Lead 75, Mosfet Lead 100 and 5150 (that's a Marshall too!) are all likely to be loud enough and all sell for under £200. You might even get an Artist 4203 hybrid for that, if you can find one.

[Jetfire]

Hmm, interesting. I was looking for something pretty small rather than a big thing (oo-err). Ideally, Mustang I sized would be good (even the 2 would work for me). Any thoughts about the Lead 20? Theres one local to me and he wants a very tempting price for it?

[ICBM]

Hmm, interesting. I was looking for something pretty small rather than a big thing (oo-err). Ideally, Mustang I sized would be good (even the 2 would work for me). Any thoughts about the Lead 20? Theres one local to me and he wants a very tempting price for it?

Much better than the Lead 12, but I still think it needs a better speaker to be practice-able with. A G10 Vintage is about the loudest 10" I know of (99dB) but is very dark and middy - good for crunch, not so good for deep cleans. To do better than that you'll need to fit a 12" - it can be done, but it involves a fair amount of work on the baffle.

There might also be efficient enough neodymium 10"s, but I don't have any personal experience of them.

Good amp anyway though, if the price is that tempting I'd have it and try it... I might be wrong about how much volume you need.

[Jetfire]

Could be good call. I did wonder if a 10 incher would be too small for it (oo-err) but Ive messaged him to see whats what. We honestly dont go that loud, the ht5 was pretty good volume wise on the crunch channel, just not so much on the clean but Ive had a look at some of your suggestions and Im now watching something on ebay you've suggested!

[deftrap]

Try the new Marshall dsl 15

[ICBM]

Try the new Marshall dsl 15

But budget for a new speaker if it's the combo... since they seem to have fitted it with yet another piece of junk.

The older DSL combos aren't bad either - the 201 definitely needs a better speaker, the 401 can benefit from it. They also need a couple of minor reliability mods, but once done are pretty dependable.