#153933  by JDB30
 
jumage96 wrote:Id be interested to try the roland as Ive never had any experience with higher end solid state amps. And on the ibanez does the middle pup have a volume and tone control or is it just straight to jack?
Each pickup has a volume control (though, as is common, there is inter-activity between the controls) and there is one master tone control. I have an external EQ box that was custom made, based on the '70's Ibanez Active EQ system that was in some of their guitars.
 #153936  by jumage96
 
Thanks for all the help! Ill bring my guitar into the shop this week and talk it over with them giving them a bit more details on wiring and whatnot, hopefully with a bit more info they might be less reluctant. If not ill start considering shipping it out. Ill need to do some more research on amps as well and figure out what to go with. Hopefully I can find a JC77 nearby that I can test out cause it sounds pretty interesting.
 #153957  by ski_rick
 
Hey Jumage96,

I've found myself in a similar situation as you. I started playing in a band back at the beginning of the year. I have a kinda hybrid Jerry/Trey rig including a guitar with 3 Humbuckers and the other guitarist and I both have very similar pedal boards, tones, and approaches to playing.

We play mostly classic rock and around 20% Grateful Dead and I decided to take a deeper dive into Bobby's playing in order to distinguish myself from the other guitar (not to mention, he's honestly a better lead player than I am even though we both take leads).

With a little tweaking I'm pretty happy with my "Bobby-ish" tone from my current rig (Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 w/ Tone Tubby 10" speaker). We don't really try to "reproduce" songs, we're much more likely to just take the chords and make a song our own, so I'm not really going for an exact Bobby tone, just something that feels authentic to the music.

That said, I'm going to be hosting a Grateful Dead jam night starting next month, playing the Bobby part, so started researching here on RUKIND. I just took a chance on a JC77 and WOW, I've only started playing with it but it really is everything I hoped for so far. I have an early 80s Hondo II neck-thru guitar that currently has two unknown Dimarzio PUs in it, plan to turn it into a "poor man's cowboy" type guitar, but plugging it straight in the JC77, a bit of chorus, and both Humbuckers is pretty much the tone I'm looking for. Can't wait to play it next week with the band.

-Rick
cplayer2 liked this
 #153996  by flyingheelhook
 
I use a Kemper Profiling Amp and I have four performances of increasing gain that work for me. First is a /13 amp, second is a 3rd Power Dream Weaver Blackface Channel, third is a Heritage Colonial. Fourth is really pretty much outside of Bobby range - Fuchs Overdrive Supreme but every now and then he liked top push the gain.

I almost always stay with the Blackface Dreamweaver but sometimes go cleaner, sometimes dirtier.
 #154068  by jumage96
 
So Im really thinking about springing on a jc77. The only thing that worries me is theres no place around me to try one out first so I have to be real certain before ordering online and a lot of people seem to say that they dont take overdrives very well. I dont use too much gain but I can hear a bit in stuff like the 78 New years show Dark Star. Does anyone have experience with running gain pedals into the jc? I have a Sarno Earthdrive and Ds1 as my gain pedals.
 #154070  by PaulJay
 
I think you heard that the amps distortion channel is pretty weak. But it's clean channel is a good canvas for using pedals.
What you put into it is what you get. It should sound very good with an earth drive. The built in chorus effect is also the icing on the cake.
 #154079  by ski_rick
 
I took a chance on a JC77 and am really happy so far. However, I will admit I haven't really tried using any distortion on it yet.

Yes, the built-in distortion appears to be crap.

However, it's a great clean "platform" for pedals. I think the strategy for distortion/OD would be a little different than with a tube amp. I set my Mesa Boogie in my regular rig to have a clean sound that is very close to the edge of distortion. I then push it over the edge with an Analog Man Silver Mod Tube Screamer, which ultimately only has its drive part way up. I don't think the same thing would work with the SS JC77. You want a pedal that produces the exact distortion sound you want and the JC77 will simply reproduce that sound.
 #154126  by Grateful Dad
 
My band played a gig last week and played mostly early 1970's tunes (especially Europe '72 tunes). I played an Epiphone semi-hollow trough a Fender Princeton with only a boost pedal to fatten up the tone. Kept it simple. No reverb, treble up, bass down, and it sounded great for the early Weir tone.
cplayer2 liked this
 #154240  by jumage96
 
So the jc77 came in and I gotta say I see what all the hype is about! It sounds excellent. So much so that Im really thinking of just selling the hot rod. I was also looking at this compressor/limiter its a keeley pro. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on it? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... aQod3v8OLQ
cplayer2 liked this
 #154243  by strumminsix
 
jumage96 wrote:So the jc77 came in and I gotta say I see what all the hype is about! It sounds excellent. So much so that Im really thinking of just selling the hot rod. I was also looking at this compressor/limiter its a keeley pro. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on it? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... aQod3v8OLQ
That looks like a slick unit. A studio limiter has greatly helped me over the years. And that should help you eek out different dynamics.
 #154245  by jumage96
 
Where would you put it in a pedal train? Im running a pretty basic compressor unit in the beginning of my chain at the moment but this seems a bit more complex.
 #154248  by strumminsix
 
jumage96 wrote:Where would you put it in a pedal train? Im running a pretty basic compressor unit in the beginning of my chain at the moment but this seems a bit more complex.
First! I have had a studio limiter in my rack for years. Here's my rec starting point:

threshold, that'll depend on your guitar. Set that in middle and revisit later
Ratio of 3:1 works nicely for mild compressing
Attack 1 ms
Release 1 second
gain, set so it's about equal volume to bypass

then revisit the threshold and set up so that you primarily hear some uniformity and limiting with some extra sustain and mild compression.
 #155654  by jumage96
 
Just wanted to post an update for anyone who may be viewing this thread in the future. I ended up finding a jc-77 and its a great amp for those sparkly cleans, it reacts very differently from my hot rod but in a way I really appreciate. I still noticed that I was still getting too "soft" or "harsh" of a sound (for lack of a better description) using the neck, bridge, or both pickups so I went ahead and put a single coil in the center edging toward the bridge side. I gotta say that was the missing piece. Everyone on here said it was important and I see why. It brightened up and tightened the neck sound, thickened up the bridge making it a bit more bouncy, and I also get a great tone with all 3 on that I can kind of mold around. I dont have a phase reversal switch on it yet but that can wait till the future cause Im enjoying how it sounds right now. Id highly recommend both the jc-77 and having a middle pickup for those bobby tones!
cplayer2 liked this
 #155670  by shadowboxer
 
Can we really refer to Bobby tone without referencing a particular era of his career? He's used every tonal color in the book. That quest for "Bobby tone" can head in so many different directions that there really is no one way to do it.