Marshall, what were you thinking? Jackhammer JH-1 Distortion Pedal Review (Pedal Vault)

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[@meloche1syndrome]

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen for pedal reviews. As someone that's fascinated by how the sound is changed

[@rk28984]

The only pedal I wish I would have never sold! It was absolutely amazing as a boost on a crunchy amp setting. Edit 2024: Just got a used one for 45 bucks and it sounds amazing! Crushing metal tone when used as an OD into a crunchy amp and you can dial out the mud frequencies you don't want in your mix. Love it! (my setting: OD, Volume full, Gain 10 o'clock, Bass 10 o'clock, Treble 1 o'clock, Greq 10 o'clock, contour a bit before 12 o'clock. Use that in a slightly broken up amp and you get clarity and note seperation and nice robust chugging as well)

[@derekpeace7668]

I used to have one of these and once I realized that it sounds good if you leave the contour knob at 0. I remember seeing an old video where the guy said "the more contour you add, the shitter the tone" and he was 100% correct.

[@5T3LTH]

Used to use the old version stacked in front of a Black Russian big muff and it ripped balls

[@AIBCustomFx]

Well, that's a weird one with a quite underwhelming tone section. After finding the schematic online I ran a quick simulation that explains a lot. I can't share pictures but the bass/treb section is passive, meaning there's no boost, only cuts. Also, the tone curve with pots a noon features a huge bump from 60hz to 800hz and decrease above with an average of 6dB difference, hence the highs being non reactive. Also, there was a neat provisions for a complete, effective and marshall-like passive 3 band EQ but it's weirdly not exploited here (seriously why?) and ditched for a sweepable mid notch, which adds amplification, which in turn increases noise, which in turn requires excessive filtering, which implies cutting even more high frequencies. So here's your treble responsiveness. I'd like to add one more thing though, showing the intrinsic "limitation" of the white noise/freq analysis process that will help everyone use the graphic's info into a more accurate translation. @4:58 passing from OD to distortion, the graph shows a decrease in high frequencies which in this case is the opposite of what happens. it only shows an increase in clipping (compression). In fact, the graph shows a decrease in the highs but the audio shows an increase. usually, when distortion/clipping or compression is involved, a decrease in frequencies would show an increase of their representation in the final sound. Kind of nerdy talk but useful to make sense of what you see!

[@javiceres]

The only problem with the pedal is users not knowing how to tweak it

[@AlexBaranets]

Amazing pedal, been using for 5+ years. It sounds close to Marshall amp sound (jcm 900 is the closest I think), The key is the volume on the pedal should be at least at 50% (the pedal does not have a ton of gain). Also freq and countour controls are really versatile, you can reduce or add low frequencies depending on the guitar you playing

[@riffsnoleads]

Ah yes, the Marshall Lead 12 in pedal form, though it is likely marketed as a "JCM 800." Definitely not for everyone. I find these pedals work best with a clean amp (like a Fender or a Plexi), especially considering it is a "Marshall in a Box" type pedal. I think that was the problem these had in the marketing, people were like "YAY a distortion pedal form Marshall!" but it is more in line with a preamp pedal. I like their sound, I am honestly surprised at how bad it sounds here, but Marshall stuff can be finnicky to EQ, I always have to cut all the lows out completely on any amp or pedal from them. I also always remember the age old advice of "Marshall Contour = take away your mids knob."

[@mluminoth6379]

Sounds like entombed and kyuss had a baby. Not really a bad thing, but at the same time this pedal doesn't do everything necessary to balance the lows and highs.

[@aguywhoknowsaguywhoknowsag3551]

I have one of these and I always thought it sounded like crap when i bought it years ago. Fast forward to recently discovering it was a screw-up and is a bluesbreaker with the jackhammer insignia

[@fromaggio7654]

In guitar rig 5, I tried getting the incubus guitar tone with the modeled jackhammer and vox ac15 model, It sounds great! Now, I dont know how this would translate to real life, but I am thinking of using a jackhammer into my vox amp and see if sounds as awesome as in guitar rig!

[@DomeNightbearer]

in theory this should work, but "real life" has its own laws that don't apply to the digital plugin realm I fear.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

You've heard of the MetalZone? Marshall's got the JH-1 MuddyZone.

[@lucianomateus351]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@mauricio.a.f6573]

I used the jackhamer to boost my amp drive, and works well.

[@PinkertonJM]

Maybe it's more useable before the Marshall Valvestate's clean channel. Because that amp is very trebly on the clean channel. I would try it, but my Valvestate gave up on me! 🤷

[@lucianomateus351]

I use jackhammer and guvnor with valvestate 8080 and both sound great at Clean channel. But the real Marshall sound its the Channel 2 distortion of the amp itself. The guvnor and jackhammer are close, but the amp its better

[@casket_industries]

Exactly why you should try it with bass. For example check out the debut Strigoi album, as I used a Jackhammer > EHX Bass Muff Deluxe > Ampeg SVT for my amp sound (parallel Darkglass B7K Ultra running for DI). I was really happy, and slightly surprised with the results.

[@DomeNightbearer]

Now I have an idea 😅 And I thought you used the funeral party again.

[@casket_industries]

Haha, nope, the dreaded Jackhammer was the key to crushing that sound. Hopeless for guitar... but for bass (with cleanish DI underneath) is The Way. ;)

[@cammac66]

I have this as a boost to an... ancient zoom g1x lol. BG crunch on the zoom minimal gain. Then into this. Might post a video

[@brunovianamusic]

In my experience, all budget pedals have ONE good setting and you gotta find that. I'm from Brasil and trust me, we here know budget gear. I got that pedal for years now and it sounds fine for me to play small clubs. The knobs suck ass tho. I wish I could find a way to substitute those, oh how those knobs SUCK.

[@TheLukeGrey]

Sorry dude this is an amazing pedal if you know what you're doing

[@DomeNightbearer]

I'm certain it is. Just not for me 😅

[@akrmfk]

I clicked like only for the bloodbath shirt. And that bitchin guitar

[@Ivanvolados]

I get the best sound for me setting like 3:25. Thanks for the curve! And it's not a pedal for modern metal.

[@panagotispatrik515]

I love this pedal!

[@DomeNightbearer]

How do you use it?

[@panagotispatrik515]

@@DomeNightbearer for a short period of time as a distortion in front of a marshall mg amp. Liked it a lot, however i later moved to tube amps and never looked back

[@darklight4815]

That pedal is asking for a clean amp I believe dude ,it sounds better than this

[@DomeNightbearer]

Will be back in a couple of weeks, this time modded tho!

[@darklight4815]

@@DomeNightbearer right on 🤘

[@Verum_X]

I still have this... in storage better than the metal zone... when I had my HM2 I'm not looking back

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

I'd trade mine for a Metalzone any day. I already own a Metalzone but a second one to mod would be more useful than a Jackhammer.

[@DomeNightbearer]

True... I have 4 Metal Zones for exactly this reason 🤣

[@klauslandvermesser720]

Do you know If It works fine on Fender amps as well?

[@DomeNightbearer]

I do not, however I don't see a reason why it shouldn't.

[@javiermunoz4604]

I can tell, with a Hot Rod Deluxe it works very well, I play rock and some hard rock, no metal at all, bit this one combined with a tubescreamer and les paul is my main sound and it works very well. Contour very low, of course only in overdrive mode

[@georgetheodor112]

When you challenge a Metal Zone and fail completely. Only scooping the mids? Are you guys seriously???

[@dumbamerica]

You can't cut down a tree with a jackhammer, then again, you can't bust up concrete with a chainsaw.

[@zAvAvAz]

LoL thats so good!

[@TheSentry777]

I was never a fan of this pedal either

[@spuuuuuz]

This was such a terrible pedal. I can't understand how they can have the schematic for the Shredmaster and they put out this pedal instead!

[@ironsave3201]

Agree. Sounded like shit.

[@bon6461]

You do great reviews, but a wee bit of info... Drop the superfluous data. Bro, we're over five minutes in and you're still dialing it in at talking about. Please keep in mind, some of your viewers are virtuosos so we have to sent through close to ten minutes of yao DC sauce

[@DomeNightbearer]

gotcha, it's hard to get the right balance for beginners anf virtuosos, but I try my very best!

[@bon6461]

@@DomeNightbearer it's cool man. I was just interested in hearing it's sounds. Don't take it personally. Do your thing because there are way more beginners than pros