jfet effects

[9 volts]

Just quick question about these...........I understand they are designed to emulate different kinds of amps. So do these types of pedals work well at high volume on good amps or is their purpose solely to replicate classic amps on generic amps or for direct recordings.
Eg If I plug a thunderchief into a marshall will it enhance the sound or does it defeat the purpose. (u dig?)  Is it then a complimentary pre amp or simply overkill?
I've made a few jfet style pedals and they're impressive. Obviously these are great for low volume etc.
Whats are some opinions?

[MartyMart]

To me, they work best into a "clean" amp/preamp/virtual amp, so as to keep the
nature of the "simulation" ( they are not meant to replace a vintage valveamp ! )
Obviously, whatever you plug into, will colour it a little, but keeping the destination
device flat eq and clean should work well.
I've built quite a number of these and have made some which are in my Gallery
above, one caveat : once you get into the higher gain settings, they all tend to sound
quite similar, probably due to the nature of J201's etc.
Theres a LOT of difference in the "clean to breakup" area though.
Recommended builds :

BSIAB II
Thunderchief
Citrus Graphic
Dr Boogie  ( all quite high gain )

Bassman '59
Supro Thunderbolt '66
Matchbox  ( all seem good at low/medium gain )

[Roland]

They are really good for tone shapeing and clean tones. When it comes to  breakup and distortion characteristics it's a differant story, but like all effects it's subjective. Because of that clean tone shapeing and boost ability they make great boosts for driving the front end of a tube amp.

As far as emulateing an actrual tube amp..you will get the vibe and tone if it's a clean sounding emulation. Which is pretty darn good for a handfull of fets, compared to 50 lbs of tubes, transformers and tolex.

More experimentation is necessary to get phase inversion , power amp and transformer characteristics.

[ildar]

In my experience, they work best into a clean amp, as Marty says. I like to use them as preamps into a power amp, usually a tube power amp.
To me, they sound best set relatively clean and loud, and then driven with a booster/dist/od in front. Sounds pretty convincing to me, especially into the aforementioned tube power amp.

[9 volts]

Thanks for the feedback. I've made a mini booster and it's a great pedal both alone and also a complementary boost to other pedals. I've just got some j201's so I'll certainly be having a go at some of the bigger ones like the bsiab.
It's interesting to note that dod were making jfet preamps in the 70's so this approach has been around for a while.
Thanks again.

[ildar]

Thanks for the feedback. I've made a mini booster and it's a great pedal both alone and also a complementary boost to other pedals. I've just got some j201's so I'll certainly be having a go at some of the bigger ones like the bsiab.
It's interesting to note that dod were making jfet preamps in the 70's so this approach has been around for a while.
Thanks again.

Yeah, it's definitely been around. I like the idea of emulating tube amp gain stages with fets, but that idea has been around a long time too. Still beats digital modeling, though.