JCM 900 mkiii 2500

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Shiny_Surface

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So recently I took a chance on the much dreaded JCM 900 series and picked up an early model that was produced from 1990 to 1992, the mkiii. This is a single channel amp and not like the Dual Reverb's that came after.

These amps shipped with EL34's as well.

Got it for $500 and think it's a great amp if you're on a budget, I could get similar tones to my 800 and it has more gain on tap and some additional features I think are useful. :thumbsup:

So I made a few comparison clips using the mkiii 2500 and my JCM 2204.

Both amps are 50 watts (both have Drake tranny's, just a sidenote), using the same guitar/cab/signal chain and same song just for fun.

In both clips I'm boosting the front end with an SD-1 and GE-7 as I'm going for an 80's hair tone with this song demo (same as my last video lol).

Here's the 2204:



And here's the mkiii 2500:

 
Cool tones man. Gotta love a Marshall! I had one of the MKIII's myself until I got my modded 2204. You can get some cool tones by mixing the gain & sensitivity controls at different levels. Mind if I ask what your GE7 settings are? I never tried mine in front of any of my Marshalls but I think I will now. :rock:
 
Bloodrock":62jpety5 said:
Cool tones man. Gotta love a Marshall! I had one of the MKIII's myself until I got my modded 2204. You can get some cool tones by mixing the gain & sensitivity controls at different levels. Mind if I ask what your GE7 settings are? I never tried mine in front of any of my Marshalls but I think I will now. :rock:
Click to expand...

Thanks, with the GE7 I set almost everything flat except for the middle slider which I nudge up just enough to hear a difference for a mid boost, and the second from the left bass frequency I bumped just a bit to add some fullness and compensate for youtube/cam mic tinniness. :lol: :LOL: I also nudge the level control up a bit so it boosts the signal as well.

The SD1 was set as a boost but slightly different, drive at 9:00 and I turned the tone control down to 10:00 again to compensate for the youtube/cam mic tinniness.
 
I played one recently also.... and i gotta say....i really dug it :dunno: \

I dont get what everyones problems with them are :confused:

Halford :thumbsup:
 
If you are going to own a 900, the 2500 is the one to own. It was after this that Marshall started to slide, IMO. The first 900's was Marshall's answer to the mods being done to the 2203's at the time. Great amp, and a fucking good price. I certainly would have picked it up at that. Good clips too dude........congrats.


Steve
 
I think it sounds pretty damn good :rock: I've read that the SL-X is the JCM900 to own but this video may make people rething that notion.

Jim
 
I used to have an early 2500 with el34 and I liked it alot. The best feature on those is the footswitchable master volumes where its the same channel and tone but just two seperate adjustable levels for solo boosts etc. The later ones came with 5881 tubes. Mine wasnt as loud as a normal 50 watt marshall 800 or jmp and my tech told me that some of these had a defective transformer design which was often a problem and probably why it seemed more like a 25-30 watt amp but still loud enough to gig with. The slx is the same thing just with an extra preamp tube in the gain stage which replaced the diode clipping circuit used in 900's. the mkIII or the slx are the 900's that sound the best to me no doubt about it.
 
Thought I would bump this thread because I am about to buy a used JCM 900 2500 MK III. Best Marshall I have played in a while. I like it as much as my PWE and Shiva. It sounds warmer and fatter than the DSL or JVM. For the price which is like pocket change, who wouldn't buy one! The SLX was too bright.

I would mod mine with a choke and Mercury Magnetics transformer.

Love this demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWJYvp5joc
 
ugh...those clips are old and not my best. :lol: :LOL:

The 800 clip in particular doesn't do it justice imo....
 
Yeah, your newer clips with the 800 are better for sure but it still sounds good here.. I thought the 900 sounded better in this comparison clip but i know what the 800's can do so it is probably a settings thing more than anything.

So do you run guitar->SD-1-> GE-7-> amp or does the EQ sit before the OD going to the amp?
 
Kapo_Polenton":34k710mh said:
Yeah, your newer clips with the 800 are better for sure but it still sounds good here.. I thought the 900 sounded better in this comparison clip but i know what the 800's can do so it is probably a settings thing more than anything.

So do you run guitar->SD-1-> GE-7-> amp or does the EQ sit before the OD going to the amp?
Click to expand...

I like EQ after the OD, I've experimented with the EQ first and it's a subtle difference really just preference....
 
richedie":3pcbjkz4 said:
Thought I would bump this thread because I am about to buy a used JCM 900 2500 MK III. Best Marshall I have played in a while. I like it as much as my PWE and Shiva. It sounds warmer and fatter than the DSL or JVM. For the price which is like pocket change, who wouldn't buy one! The SLX was too bright.

I would mod mine with a choke and Mercury Magnetics transformer.

Love this demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWJYvp5joc
Click to expand...

The 900 sounds great in that vid.
 
one of my favorite records of all time is an LP straight into a 900

Descendents - Everything Sucks

I love the tone and I've heard before that it wasn't even miked but used some sort of DI off the amp? I don't know about that really but whatever they did I've adored that album in writing and sound since I was 10 years old.
 
kloppsta":1h4z4ofn said:
Silverchair's Frogstomp album was all 900 fwiw :rock:
Click to expand...

Is that a 'good thing'? :scared: Kinda thought that was a compressed mess personally.

I remember reading something back in the day that he was using Soldano - was that just when touring?
 
Chris O":3l85z8nz said:
kloppsta":3l85z8nz said:
Silverchair's Frogstomp album was all 900 fwiw :rock:
Click to expand...

Is that a 'good thing'? :scared: Kinda thought that was a compressed mess personally.

I remember reading something back in the day that he was using Soldano - was that just when touring?
Click to expand...

By modern standards frogstomp guitar tones are nothing to get excited about, but it was cool at the time, imo. keep in mind silverchair were pimple faced teenagers when they recorded that album!

After frogstomp daniel johns switched to a soldano hot rod 100+
 
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