Is the Jose Mod Just a Clean Boost?

[Lechmere]

So, is the Jose Mod just an internal clean boost, and if so, why not just run a clean boost pedal in front of your amp rather than getting it operated on?

 

[technomancer]

No, it's not. If you're talking about an original Jose mod it's an extra tube gain stage in front of the bright channel of a 1959 with a switchable master pre or post ton stack, sometimes with diode clipping on the master.

There are also tons of variations by different modders with pre tone stack masters with diode clipping, sometimes with or without an extra gain stage and various other mods to the usual Marshall gain stages.

 

[narad]

No, it's not. If you're talking about an original Jose mod it's an extra tube gain stage in front of the bright channel of a 1959 with a switchable master pre or post ton stack, sometimes with diode clipping on the master.

There are also tons of variations by different modders with pre tone stack masters with diode clipping, sometimes with or without an extra gain stage and various other mods to the usual Marshall gain stages.

Are there lots of possible options to how the extra tube gain stage is added in front of the bright channel? Like some related parts values? It just seems hard to reconcile such a conceptually simple mod description to the vast number of Jose "style" mods out there. And I'm not talking about together with all the other mods, but just what various builders advertise as their basic Jose mod.

 

[technomancer]

Are there lots of possible options to how the extra tube gain stage is added in front of the bright channel? Like some related parts values? It just seems hard to reconcile such a conceptually simple mod description to the vast number of Jose "style" mods out there. And I'm not talking about together with all the other mods, but just what various builders advertise as their basic Jose mod.

When most people talk about a Jose today it's an amp with a pre tone stack master with diode clipping and whatever else they want to throw in. For example the Camerons don't have the extra gain stage out front and instead cascade the gain stages and change a bunch of component values. The Gower Cali cascades things, changes a bunch of values, and IIRC has a switchable extra gain stage before the cathode follower.

The original Jose Arredondo mod, what he called his 3 way mod, was what I detailed above. He also did stuff like used 2 parallel gain stages instead of the one out front, did a gain stage in front of the normal channel, put in various insert loops, etc etc.

 

[Shask]

No, it's not. If you're talking about an original Jose mod it's an extra tube gain stage in front of the bright channel of a 1959

Its kinda funny if you think about it, because that is basically a JCM800, lol.

I guess the main difference with that basic change is the lack of the treble peakers.

 

[technomancer]

Its kinda funny if you think about it, because that is basically a JCM800, lol.

I guess the main difference with that basic change is the lack of the treble peakers.

You're forgetting the cold clipper and the ability to mix in the normal channel... but I guess I left that optional push/pull to blend the channels out of my feature list. They definitely sound different.

 

[ArtDecade]

No, it's not. If you're talking about an original Jose mod it's an extra tube gain stage in front of the bright channel of a 1959 with a switchable master pre or post ton stack, sometimes with diode clipping on the master.

There are also tons of variations by different modders with pre tone stack masters with diode clipping, sometimes with or without an extra gain stage and various other mods to the usual Marshall gain stages.

^ This is the correct!