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Have you ever tried the other hole?


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Cable input jack hole that is..... On an amp, who uses the 2nd input? Like ever? I have had a bunch of amps over the years. Mostly Marshalls and Fenders, but there has been an od ball or two. I have never used the 2nd input on any amp. Sometimes, like 5 minutes ago, I forget why - and I plug in the cable to the jack marked "2". Always the same dissapointment. If I want less gain I just roll down the volume knob. Why is there even a 2nd jack? 

You 2nd jack users, this is your chance to come out of the closet. Why do you use it, and when?

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Turning down the volume knob may get you less gain, but it also gets you less volume. I think using the lower-powered jack is to give you more headroom, essentially.

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54 minutes ago, FGJ said:

Turning down the volume knob may get you less gain, but it also gets you less volume. I think using the lower-powered jack is to give you more headroom, essentially.

I never needed that I guess. 

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Yup...jumper it the channels is cool....now vintage type Fenders often like single coils in the hotter 1 input and buckers in #2 input...that -6db pad helps balance out the volumes and keeps the buckets cleaner a little further up the dial...but if you want gain,then buckers into #1.

I find uses for both...#2 often seems prettier and clearer when playing clean. But when I wanna rock...? Hi 1everytime even when jumper I got the channels.

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54 minutes ago, ptm1diver said:

How about amps with 4 inputs?

You only use the first input ever. And then jumper the 2nd channel to the first to get double "oumph". Never heard of anyone who just plugged in to the 2nd input of just one channel. I do however sometimes use only the first input on one channel, without jumpering, on my JMP. But 99% of the time I have the channels jumpered. On my JTM50 they are jumpered internally and I removed the 2nd input completely. I put a mastervolume in that hole. The 2nd input is for sissys anyways.

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With a lot of guitars, when you turn the guitar's volume knob down you also get unwanted rolloff of the highs. Does plugging into the lower gain input also attenuate the highs, or does it remain bright?

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5 hours ago, stobro said:

With a lot of guitars, when you turn the guitar's volume knob down you also get unwanted rolloff of the highs. Does plugging into the lower gain input also attenuate the highs, or does it remain bright?

See, no one even knows what the 2nd input sound like! It's like a totally obsolete feature.

On my Deluxe Reverb, and on my Marshalls I guess, there is only like  -3 to -6 db less output. Tone is the same, just lower.

When I play jazzy stuff through my Deluxe Reverb I roll the volume down on the guitar. I like the slight rolloff of the highs. It makes it sound "jazzier", smoother. And I can control the output better.

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The 2nd input is quite useful if you mainly play single coil guitars but occasionally grab a humbucker equipped guitar. Plugging into the 2nd input keeps the overall volume about the same without much adjustment. I use it frequently when switching between my Strat and my Monaco.

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I use an ABY pedal. Makes it easy to use both and jumper. An ABY with led’s has been a welcomed pedal to my board after years without!

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There's a lot of "legacy" features on guitar amps. Like the two inputs, the bright cap on the 2nd channel of Fender amps, etc.  Most of my amps have only a single input, but the older ones like my Carvin X-100B Fuzzy have the two.

Rivera amps all seem to have a "High Gain" and "Low Gain" set of inputs, even the ones that they currently make.  Some of their amps with a single input, like the pubster, still have "High Gain" under the input. The way rivera explains it is that if you want max clean headroom or have a very hot output guitar, use the low gain input.

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Only plugged into input 2 a couple times on any amp, but I daisy chain my tweeds as well as daisy chaining the channels. Done it that way forever (since the early 90s). Saw pics of Hendrix and Clapton's stacks in the 60s that way, so I tried it and loved it the first time I played a four input tweedy. Into Normal 1, Normal 2 to Bright 1, Bright 2 to the reverb in, reverb out to amp 2's Normal 1, Normal 2 to Bright 1. Worked for guys much better than me before I was born, works for me playing to an audience of angry neighbors 60 years after the amps were designed!

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I plug my guitar lead into the top-left (the upper "Input I") on my Marshall Model 1987 and then run a short jumper between the lower "Input I" and the upper "Input II".  This photo is not of my head, by mine looks identical, right down to the faded grill cloth. 

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I use it on my JMP for those rarest of times when I need the squeakiest of cleans when recording.  I'll leave it plugged into the #2 input on the bright side of my '61 brownface Deluxe all the time to keep from getting a stern warning from my wife about needing to 'keep it down'. 

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10 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

I plug my guitar lead into the top-left (the upper "Input I") on my Marshall Model 1987 and then run a short jumper between the lower "Input I" and the upper "Input II".  This photo is not of my head, by mine looks identical, right down to the faded grill cloth. 

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Do you have a JCM800 1987? Those are rare beasts. I had the chance to buy one twice. Just a few months ago one was up for sale. But it was a two hour drive to get it, and the back, so I hesitated for to long. Then it was gone. Bummer! Those are soooo Judas Priest. One day I'll find one. 

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9 hours ago, Hackubus said:

I use it on my JMP for those rarest of times when I need the squeakiest of cleans when recording.  I'll leave it plugged into the #2 input on the bright side of my '61 brownface Deluxe all the time to keep from getting a stern warning from my wife about needing to 'keep it down'. 

The Brown Deluxe breaks up with buckers almost immediately, but that #2 input allows for some clean tones. Pedals react differently when hitting that input too. 

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6 hours ago, Disturber said:

Do you have a JCM800 1987? Those are rare beasts. I had the chance to buy one twice. Just a few months ago one was up for sale. But it was a two hour drive to get it, and the back, so I hesitated for to long. Then it was gone. Bummer! Those are soooo Judas Priest. One day I'll find one. 

Yep. Bought it in '93 from a good friend who owns a recording studio. He got it from a pawn shop near Cherry Point Marine Air Station. It has a hard-wired two-pronged plug and we think a Marine pilot brought it back with him from overseas. The thing has a Malcolm Young "clang" that is glorious to behold. 

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1 hour ago, Jakeboy said:

The Brown Deluxe breaks up with buckers almost immediately, but that #2 input allows for some clean tones. Pedals react differently when hitting that input too. 

True of my brown 6G2 Princeton, too, especially with the Superpro, despite it having Alnico II Pros instead of the hotter stock Custom/Custom Custom pups, but I still prefer input 1 and backing off the guitar volume 9 times out of 10. But I didn't keep that amp for clean headroom - it's small and low power, and the bias trem is to die for. Great by itself at bedroom levels, and bliss on the edge of breakup or beyond layered with the tweeds! If I need more clean volume, the Bassman has more than enough before getting into 5881 overdrive heaven!

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On 7/31/2020 at 3:45 AM, Disturber said:

Do you have a JCM800 1987? Those are rare beasts. I had the chance to buy one twice. Just a few months ago one was up for sale. But it was a two hour drive to get it, and the back, so I hesitated for to long. Then it was gone. Bummer! Those are soooo Judas Priest. One day I'll find one. 

Interesting update on this old Marshall. I have it at Mad Science Works in Raleigh (Owner Yontz Sucre is an amp savant) for a cap replacement and thorough cleaning. He just confirmed that what I have is an uber-rare export-to-Japan Model 1987. The transformer is USA-spec and the 26-year-old Tesla-branded EL34s test new, but he confirmed that the original caps are toast and he insists on replacing the hardwired two-prong with a three-prong plug, which I felt like we should do anyway.  He indicated that he's heard of these heads, but that mine is the first he's ever had on his bench. Can't wait to get it back and fired up.

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14 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

Interesting update on this old Marshall. I have it at Mad Science Works in Raleigh (Owner Yontz Sucre is an amp savant) for a cap replacement and thorough cleaning. He just confirmed that what I have is an uber-rare export-to-Japan Model 1987. The transformer is USA-spec and the 26-year-old Tesla-branded EL34s test new, but he confirmed that the original caps are toast and he insists on replacing the hardwired two-prong with a three-prong plug, which I felt like we should do anyway.  He indicated that he's heard of these heads, but that mine is the first he's ever had on his bench. Can't wait to get it back and fired up.

Cool! Yeah, you need to replace those big caps. I've done it on my old 73's. And I had a 2104 2x12 combo that I also replace the caps in. It makes them sound better. I did a caps replacement in my two Rivera Fender amps this past spring as well. They really came alive.

The Tesla EL34's are killer. I had a pair in my 2104 that blew up in my face when I was adjusting bias. I shit my pants. Fuses blew. I was sure the hole amp had gone bust. But luckily it was just the tube that was old. Wish I had a few NOS ones laying around. I have used nos RFT's lately. They are pretty damn good.

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