{"title": "Josh Builds His Amp Wall | 8 Heads + 4 Cabs | Two-Rock, Marshall, Sovtek, Sovrat, Badcat, Milkman, Morgan", "author": "Josh Scott", "publication": "JHS Pedals", "text": {"pitches": ["This isn't just about building a guitar rig. It's Josh Scott's argument for why real tube amplifiers matter more than ever in an age of digital modeling."], "body": "## The Amp Wall
Josh Scott is standing in his jam room, surrounded by eight amplifier heads and four speaker cabinets. He's building what he calls an "amp wall" — a switching system that lets him route any of those eight heads into any of the four cabs at will.
The centerpiece is a piece of gear most guitarists have never encountered: a Khan Pro Audio switcher. It can handle eight amplifier heads and four speaker cabinets simultaneously, giving Scott nearly 967,000 possible routing combinations.
"Eight heads is a lot of heads," he admits. "It's kind of nuts."
The Amplifiers
The collection includes some notable pieces:
- Two Rock — the original black Two Rock, which Scott places near the top of his list
- Marshall JCM800 — representing the classic British amplifier sound
- Plexi — a favorite plexiglass head from his personal collection
- Badcat — a rare piece he's been waiting to incorporate
- Milkman — a harmonic tremolo reverb head he discovered tucked away in storage
- Waza — an external amp modifier he wants running through the Two Rock at all times
- Satellite — another head he's setting up for regular use
- Silver Tone — filling one of the remaining slots
"I tune in next time," Scott says, acknowledging he'll rarely use all these heads but needing them available for research and development.
The Cabinets
He's chosen four cabinets to pair with the amplifiers:
1. A Two Rock cabinet loaded with two 12-inch closed-back vintage 30 speakers 2. An Alco Gold cabinet — a unique piece featuring an Alco Gold speaker, known for its Vox-style chime and clarity from the 1960s 3. A Marshall half-stack cabinet 4. A custom JHS cab with two vintage 30s, built to his specification about 20 years ago
"This is one of my favorite cabs I've ever had," he says.
The speaker types matter because ceramic and Alco speakers produce distinctly different tones — ceramic tending toward a flatter, more American response, while Alco hearkening back to the British-style clarity of classic Vox amplifiers.
The Wiring Process
The physical setup involves connecting all eight amplifiers to power strips first, then running speaker cables to each cabinet. Scott acknowledges this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours depending on complications.
"Tube amps are real needy," his collaborator Nick observes.
"They're like the Pro Tools of guitar turned on."
The Philosophy
But this isn't merely a gear project. Scott has a larger argument driving the construction.
In recent writing for his Substack, he's been exploring technology and creativity — specifically what he calls "the coming simulacra" in guitar processing. His piece about John Mayer drew significant response, even inspiring a panel at NAM (though he didn't attend).
"I understand there's these points in technology where everybody overdoes it a little bit because everything's new," Scott explains. "And right now you turn on YouTube or you turn on Instagram and you kind of don't know what's real — and that's annoying."
His solution is physical, concrete, tangible: eight real amplifier heads and four actual speaker cabinets in a room he can walk into.
"I just want to use some real stuff in the process of making," he says. "The profilers and all this stuff — it's really cool. But I think we just need to be considering how are we making things? Are the tools we have helping us, or are we letting them do things and take away the fun of making for ourselves?
"This is a physical manifestation of me trying to lean into that and make sure that we're making stuff with real toys and not all computer toys."
Counterpoints
Critics might note that this approach leans heavily into romanticized hardware while potentially limiting accessibility — not everyone has the space, money, or infrastructure for such an elaborate setup. The argument for "real" gear also depends on subjective definitions of authenticity that many modern players have rejected in favor of lighter, more portable solutions.
Pull Quote
This is a physical manifestation of me trying to lean into that and make sure that we're making stuff with real toys and not all computer toys.
Bottom Line
Scott's amp wall project reveals something genuine about his philosophy: the most compelling case for real gear isn't about tone quality — it's about process. The act of physically connecting amplifiers, selecting speakers, positioning cabinets in a room he can walk into — that's the part that matters. His biggest vulnerability is practical: setting up such an elaborate system requires space, money, and time that most players simply don't have. But for those who do, the project demonstrates that sometimes the most interesting sound comes from what you can touch with your own hands.", "sections": [{"heading": "The Amp Wall", "content_summary": "Josh Scott builds a switching system for eight amplifier heads and four speaker cabinets."}, {"heading": "The Amplifiers", "content_summary": "He selects rare and classic amplifiers including Two Rock, Marshall JCM800, Plexi, Badcat, Milkman, Waza, Satellite, and Silver Tone."}, {"heading": "The Cabinets", "content_summary": "Four speaker cabinets are chosen with different speaker types for tonal variety."}, {"heading": "The Wiring Process", "content_summary": "Physical setup involves connecting power and speaker cables across all eight amplifiers and four cabinets."}, {"heading": "The Philosophy", "content_summary": "Scott argues that real tube gear matters more than digital modeling in an age of processed sounds."}]}}