AMT (Asia Music technology) was initially founded in 1982 by Russian musician and electronic engineer Sergei Marichev, whose initial goal was to adapt the MINI MOOG design to work with existing Soviet components. By 1987, the company (then called Asia) diversified to produce guitar effects and electronic drum machines. Throughout the 1990’s the company flourished and in recent years, has expanded their company to America, with the founding of AMT Electronics USA, offering a wide range of guitar effects pedals.

In my tonal aquarium, the JCM-800 is a shark among guppies. This tonal fetish caused a Spock- like raised eyebrow reaction when I saw the AMT Electronics Legend Amps M1, which is a JFET based circuit designed to emulate JCM-800 in a small (insert dimensions) pedal.

The Siberian made M1 features a three band EQ, level, gain, and true bypass switch on its lime green face. Inputs and dual outputs (one standard, and one speaker emulated) follow the standard side mount design; however the labels are curiously much lower on the face than the location of the jacks.

...the M1 delivered the goods from subtle growl to full on crunch and was very receptive and responsive to volume knob changes

I immediately threw the pedal in front of my Tech 21 Trademark 60’s clean channel with the bright switch engaged and goosed all the knobs in traditional JCM-800 fashion (except the level) and let loose. Oh no! What have these guys done? It sounded bright and thin, nothing close to my expectations. Disengaging the bright switch helped significantly, but excitement was fading fast. However, I quickly realized my issue. This device isn’t really a traditional stomp box; it’s a preamp in stomp box clothing meant to be fed directly to a power amp. I altered the rig to feed the effects return of the TM60 and gave it another shot. I was immediately teleported back to my preteen years when the JCM-800 was heard on every other rock song on the radio. With a childish glee, I rocked the pedal for quite some time and was extremely impressed with the dynamic response and tonal fingerprint of the M1. This pedal really nails its goal with authority and authenticity.

AMT didn’t try to provide an over the top amount of gain and even emulated the largely ineffective tone stack of the original amp. Across the gain knob’s throw, the M1 delivered the goods from subtle growl to full on crunch and was very receptive and responsive to volume knob changes, though never cleaning up entirely (as it really shouldn’t). Like its inspiration, the treble and bass knobs might as well be toggle switches as they don’t offer many shades between full up or off. Still, the mid knob provides a nice sweep allowing a more Slash-like grind full up and more Priest-like chunk when scooped.

Excited with the crunchy grind the pedal unleashed, I wondered if it would take an overdrive as good as its real world counterpart so I fed it an Ibanez TS9. Holy smokes! The M1 is more receptive to overdrive than many amps I’ve played. With an overdrive up front, the M1 becomes simply liquidy with enough sustain to please even the most discerning shredders.

Like an obsessed mad scientist, I continued to experiment running the unit direct into my EMU-1616M. The speaker emulated output is on par with any analog circuit I’ve played, serving up a smooth and even tone yet didn’t fully capture the oomph I wanted to hear. Though an idea suddenly flashed in my head and I loaded a JCM-800 preset on IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 2, bypassing the pre amp and tone stack using only the power amp, cabinet, and mic modeling fed by the M1’s standard output and was treated to a tone which I would be extremely hard pressed to differentiate from the real deal. I’ve never really considered blending analog and digital modeling before but this experiment really opened my eyes to some exciting possibilities.

While the AMT M1 is a one trick pony in the strictest sense, the one trick they’ve pulled off is a whopper. AMT Electronics has really nailed the classic JCM-800 crunch with the M1 at an incredibly competitive price point which will leave those seeking classic high gain crunch with a big smile on their face.

Price: ~ $130USD
Pros: Excellent emulation of the JCM-800
Cons: Not as effective when used like a traditional distortion pedal