One of the main features that Mayer wanted included in the J-Mod was the selectable overdrive circuit, which runs through the single channel amplifier as opposed to having a second designated channel for gain. “There’s something in this amp that has that Spartan design approach, like a great old film camera or a fixed gear bike. A relatively simple tool with great depth in its design,” said Mayer.
Featuring 100 watts of power, this single channel amp creates some lush clean sounds which was another prerequisite as Mayer is continually striving for headroom out of an amplifier. When pushed, the amp creates ‘a different kind of drive’ which will allow players to gain extended clean playing possibilities. “It’s all about the amp as a round, clean, loud, responsive mouthpiece for the guitar. Don’t get me wrong, I love an overdriven vintage amp. But for the music I’ve written – take ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ for example – it lives in that clean, vocal space,” he said.
For those guitarists out there that are wondering how the J-MOD 100 deals with both single coil and humbucker pickup setups, that debate has also been thought of in the design. “I think we nailed the amp in terms of designing it to be versatile so that it’s just as good with either single coil or humbuckers. I’ve been playing the prototype of the amp since my first show with Dead & Co, and have been playing the Super Eagle, which has humbuckers,” said Mayer. “Then we fine-tuned it from there to react to single coil pickups just as well, and dialed the amp in even more for humbuckers.”
PRS Guitars are distributed by Electric Factory.