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Johnson Millennium


MilleniumMan

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ok I'll bite too...as with many effects units, the factory presets are WAY too wet. Additionally WAY to much bass response programmed in. Additionally, from model-to-model settings and channel-to-channel as well, the volume may not be balanced at all. All these things are remedied by tweaking. Yes, out of the box it sounds great in the bedroom and lousy in a band, but there's nothing holding a person back from making it work live.

 

 

And there you have it. Every person buying a modeling amp should be forced to read and sign a paper that basically says this thing. I'm tired of hearing that modeling amps don't cut through.

 

 

Use an extension cab to get the best sound because the V30's don't like the mosfet power...

 

Wait what...? There is no such thing as "MOSFET power", besides, those amps don't even use MOSFET output transistors but a pair of generic TIP142/147 series darlington BJTs.

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And there you have it. Every person buying a modeling amp should be forced to read and sign a paper that basically says this thing. I'm tired of hearing that modeling amps don't cut through.



Wait what...? There is no such thing as "MOSFET power", besides, those amps don't even use MOSFET output transistors but a pair of generic TIP142/147 series darlington BJTs.

 

Line 6 Vettas can ABSOLUTELY "cut through' in a live situation

 

 

Seen it several times (locally) in cover bands and they did just fine with the rest of the band, no issues at all. I remember seeing a zeppelin cover band and other types bands with no problems live

 

 

 

:idk:

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It's nice to hear that several of you have been able to use the (or have seen it used) JM150 live - it just didn't work for me. Perhaps the issue in my case was that I was playing with a fellow guitarist who was using tube amps. I also am guilty of not spending huge amounts of time and effort in trying to dial in the Johnson. It's much easier to put a vintage rat in front of my Reinhardt 18 and go.

 

I do love the versatility of the JM150 - if any of you have some tips (besides the generic "spend some time to dial it in"), I'd love to hear them. For example, did you start with a basic amp model and bulid, or did you take a preset and tweak?

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I do love the versatility of the JM150 - if any of you have some tips (besides the generic "spend some time to dial it in"), I'd love to hear them. For example, did you start with a basic amp model and bulid, or did you take a preset and tweak?

It can be a bit time consuming either way you look at it...I've had mine dialed in to my preferred sound for so long, I rarely even use all the amp modeling flexibilities any more unless I need something kind of specailty for something, then I just find a preset and tweak it....I'll try to get back with a more in-depth response when I have some time to do so. :thu:

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It can be a bit time consuming either way you look at it...I've had mine dialed in to my preferred sound for so long, I rarely even use all the amp modeling flexibilities any more unless I need something kind of specailty for something, then I just find a preset and tweak it....I'll try to get back with a more in-depth response when I have some time to do so.
:thu:

 

Thanks! I would really appreciate it! :)

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And there you have it. Every person buying a modeling amp should be forced to read and sign a paper that basically says this thing. I'm tired of hearing that modeling amps don't cut through.



Wait what...? There is no such thing as "MOSFET power", besides, those amps don't even use MOSFET output transistors but a pair of generic TIP142/147 series darlington BJTs.

 

 

My Bad... Darlingtons.

 

Still, grab an ext cab and these amps are better. They are even better without V30's if you choose to run as combo. Ext cab like the J212 or other better distributes the power of these things. V30's fart out (some call it "blooming") when you turn the amp up.

 

Parts? yeah you can get parts for them. I needed a couple rotary encoders for mine and they were only like $8 shipped. So I got enough replacements for $25. Those rotary encoders are a bear to replace if you don't have good de-soldering unit.

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I thought about looking into one of these when there were still fairly new and my GSP 2101 Artist had recently crapped out on me. Didn't quite have the cash together, and I ended up getting away from patch tweaking and getting into single channel amps for a while (big switch!), which was good for me, educationally (not saying one or the other is "better" overall). I never understood why they didn't take off as well as the Line 6 stuff... :confused:

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I thought about looking into one of these when there were still fairly new and my GSP 2101 Artist had recently crapped out on me. Didn't quite have the cash together, and I ended up getting away from patch tweaking and getting into single channel amps for a while (big switch!), which was good for me, educationally (not saying one or the other is "better" overall). I never understood why they didn't take off as well as the Line 6 stuff...
:confused:

 

Simple reasons.. 2 of them.

 

Bad marketing plan on Harman's part. Line 6 pushed like crazy with reps, clinics, magazine ads and got the word out. The AX2 was kicking a lot of ass by that time.

 

Line 6 markup was and still is enough to get sales staff to push certain product lines. Wiggle room on the Millennium series or the Marquis series was not as good. My former guitarist worked sales after those became popular and he would push the sale of Line 6 because he made more money off of them. They rarely if ever plugged the Johnson stuff in. Some places you find the same thing today. Line 6 stuff ready to demo, Boss, Vox, Digitech, or Zoom are not even hooked up, and if they are its to really shitty headphones.

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Simple reasons.. 2 of them.


Bad marketing plan on Harman's part. Line 6 pushed like crazy with reps, clinics, magazine ads and got the word out. The AX2 was kicking a lot of ass by that time.


Line 6 markup was and still is enough to get sales staff to push certain product lines. Wiggle room on the Millennium series or the Marquis series was not as good. My former guitarist worked sales after those became popular and he would push the sale of Line 6 because he made more money off of them. They rarely if ever plugged the Johnson stuff in. Some places you find the same thing today. Line 6 stuff ready to demo, Boss, Vox, Digitech, or Zoom are not even hooked up, and if they are its to really {censored}ty headphones.

 

 

Also another reason I always hear for the failure of Johnson was that they were simply ahead of their time. They were the first modelling amp and at that time players tended not to trust the concept. Within a couple of years Johnson had failed, then they started to catch on, but too late. To make matters worse that left Line6 as the only real game in town, and they are garbage. I did try one of those and my god it's bad. So now to a lot of people "Modelling Amps suck!" but if those same people had ever gotten to try the Johnson they would sing a different tune. They might not become full on converts but I don't think they would feel it sucked.

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I used to have a JM60 (the little brother of the 150) and it was a killer amp IMO. I like it better than the Line 6 or VOX modelers that came just after it. Now for recording I prefered the PODxt Pro but the JM60 was an excellent amp.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 year later...
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I mostly play rock/metal. I like all the tones in their place of course but my favorites are

"Rectifier Stack" Probably my default for most playing. I did tweak it a lot tho the factory presets arent that great. Levels need adjustment.

"Custom Marshall" My favorite of the Marshall tones.

"Too Heavy"(not sure what amp its modelling). This is what I use if I am playing low power-chords. Nothing like it for that.

For a more noisy tone i like "Industrialzed" and "Brown Sound" maybe "Post-Seattle Grind"

 

For music I generally play like Megadeth Metallica Pantera stuff I grew up on. But I also like to mess around with AV7X, BFMV or Coheed and Cambria.

FYI

Rect Stack = Dual Rect. Stack with Dual Delay & Chorus

Too Heavy = another Dual Rectifier

Industrialized = Soldano SLO with Dual Detuner

Brown Sound = early VanHalen Marshall tone

Post-Seattle Grind = combo Vox & Marshall tones

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Holy Blast from the past. I still have my JM250 head, 412 cab, and J12 foot controller. While I think some amps have finally surpassed it, it was way ahead of it's time and still very usable. I'm keeping mine mostly due to it's rarity. I def did gig with mine without issue. I do think a nice tube amp is better, at least for me. But if I had to go back to using it, I wouldn't complain. In fact I kind of want to dig it out and plug it in and see what it sounds like again.

 

And I believe there was a beta firmware out there somewhere. Don't remember what it added, but know I found it and updated mine to it. Mostly because I could. Anyway if I do dig it out, I may throw a mic in front of it and see what it can do.

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Holy Blast from the past. I still have my JM250 head, 412 cab, and J12 foot controller. While I think some amps have finally surpassed it, it was way ahead of it's time and still very usable. I'm keeping mine mostly due to it's rarity. I def did gig with mine without issue. I do think a nice tube amp is better, at least for me. But if I had to go back to using it, I wouldn't complain. In fact I kind of want to dig it out and plug it in and see what it sounds like again.

 

And I believe there was a beta firmware out there somewhere. Don't remember what it added, but know I found it and updated mine to it. Mostly because I could. Anyway if I do dig it out, I may throw a mic in front of it and see what it can do.

 

 

To be honest, I've tried some of the new gear. the Johnson Millennium 's tone is still king. The newer amp models sound steril when compared to the J.M. amp.

I have an old Digitech 2112 ( really a Johnson amp in rack), my buddy who I get together and jam with has a Rack 11 processor .... Yeah, it has more bells and whistle, even he admits the tone of my ancient 2112 sounds more like a real amp than his Rack 11.

If ya ever want to sell it .... LET ME KNOW !!!! :)

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