Modern Marshall JCM 800?

  • Thread starter Thread starter timeghost
  • Start date Start date
I’ll throw a soldano hot rod in mix as well. Hits most of your requests!
 
Just about everything mentioned in this thread will work great.

Your budget, location, application and tone preferences (modelling vs tube) will probably dictate the rest of this conversation.

I get accused sometimes of being a Splawn fanboi but that may just be because I respect Scott Splawn so much and I happen to be the moderator of the Splawn proboard. Honestly, I play my Rectoverb a lot more than my Quick Rod but I can cop decent 80's tones out of either and my Peavey Vypyr and Blackheart Killer Ant can do them too.

That said, I use my Quick Rod differently then what you are looking for I think. I'm usually in Drop C, Gear 2, boosted, Treble on '0', and JJs all the way through. This is a video I post all the time. Tone for days:




 
I think Dave Hopkins will deliver what you’re wanting, I’ve been friends with him for years and would trust him to watch my daughter, he does good work and you can ring him late after you’ve had a few ;)
 
I mean honestly depending on how you set it, I’d say a Ceriatone King Kong 100W.
 
glpg80 said:
I mean honestly depending on how you set it, I’d say a Ceriatone King Kong 100W.
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He mentioned a runt 20 being too modern for his tastes. I wouldn’t recommend him a pre tonestack mv
 
Monomyth said:
He mentioned a runt 20 being too modern for his tastes. I wouldn’t recommend him a pre tonestack mv
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Dave Hopkins offers a mod for the platform. Converting it to post master or even PPIMV for a more classic tone isn’t a big issue. And actually, a pre tonestack master is a mod Jose offered back in the day - it’s more true to classic modded Marshall than most IMHO.
 
glpg80 said:
Dave Hopkins offers a mod for the platform. Converting it to post master or even PPIMV for a more classic tone isn’t a big issue. And actually, a pre tonestack master is a mod Jose offered back in the day - it’s more true to classic modded Marshall than most IMHO.
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I know Dave’s mod and I know how it sounds, the op mentioned his tastes and amps he’s played with opinions, I surely would not recommend a loaded circiut for somebody that thinks a runt sounds modern
 
What about a Peavey VTM? Lots a flexibility and I think they sound great for not much coin.
 
napalmdeath said:
Runt 50.

I guess most missed the "not overly high gain" part...

The Runt 50 would be perfect.
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You never fail to come off as douchey in your posts. Literally none of the options listed are overly high gain.
 
timeghost said:
I tried the Runt 20, and it was a bit too modern for me. Thanks for the recommendation though!
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Just as a general comment, if you find a runt too modern, you may struggle to like any of these amps. There aren't many amps out there that just take a jcm 800 and add some gain and call it a day. The 2203KK would be the only one that comes to mind, but that's just a boost and eq built in that hits the front end, not additional gain in the amp.

Have you thought about getting a 2203/2204 and just having it modded for a little more juice?
 
Bad.Seed said:
You never fail to come off as douchey in your posts. Literally none of the options listed are overly high gain.
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No, douchey would be making a statement without reading thoroughly. More than half the suggestions were high gain amps. "Literally".
 
Bad.Seed said:
Just as a general comment, if you find a runt too modern, you may struggle to like any of these amps. There aren't many amps out there that just take a jcm 800 and add some gain and call it a day. The 2203KK would be the only one that comes to mind, but that's just a boost and eq built in that hits the front end, not additional gain in the amp.

Have you thought about getting a 2203/2204 and just having it modded for a little more juice?
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Agreed on all. Honestly I’d take a good vintage 2203/2204 with a decent boost over any amp recommended here (even the ones I recommended), but I just assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that the OP wouldn’t want that. It’s possible though that the Runt came off too modern for other reasons besides how much gain it had. I’d consider the Helios to sound less modern than the Runt, as an example, even though it has more gain on tap because it just sounds more warm, organic and well just closer to sounding and feeling like a good vintage amp overall, but not really an JCM800 tone, more like the ‘70’s Marshall tones imo with more gain, compression and slight Bogner flavor
 
napalmdeath said:
No, douchey would be making a statement without reading thoroughly. More than half the suggestions were high gain amps. "Literally".
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High gain and overly high gain would be two different things. I read it. You're douchey.
 
Question for the OP - do you know anything about working on amps, or would any mod work etc need to be done by a tech?
Reason I ask is I'm kinda thinking maybe the best ( and most economical ) bet might be ordering a Ceriatone 2203 without transformers, add some Heyboer iron locally when it arrives, and lightly gain up the circuit while you're in there. ( or just get the JEL, which is basically that :D )

I will also say I'm surprised at the number of suggestions that are either 4 or more gain stages and / or diode clipping designs. I'm not feeling like that's quite over the target :doh:
 
braintheory said:
Agreed on all. Honestly I’d take a good vintage 2203/2204 with a decent boost over any amp recommended here (even the ones I recommended), but I just assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that the OP wouldn’t want that. It’s possible though that the Runt came off too modern for other reasons besides how much gain it had. I’d consider the Helios to sound less modern than the Runt, as an example, even though it has more gain on tap because it just sounds more warm, organic and well just closer to sounding and feeling like a good vintage amp overall, but not really an JCM800 tone, more like the ‘70’s Marshall tones imo with more gain, compression and slight Bogner flavor
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I can agree to this. I have the Helios eclipse and it is a raw beast, certainly more gain on tap than a stock 800 or cranked super lead, but the range goes from clean all the way to super high gain across the 3 channels. Its the most vintage sounding high gain amp I've played.
 
fusedbrain said:
Question for the OP - do you know anything about working on amps, or would any mod work etc need to be done by a tech?
Reason I ask is I'm kinda thinking maybe the best ( and most economical ) bet might be ordering a Ceriatone 2203 without transformers, add some Heyboer iron locally when it arrives, and lightly gain up the circuit while you're in there. ( or just get the JEL, which is basically that :D )

I will also say I'm surprised at the number of suggestions that are either 4 or more gain stages and / or diode clipping designs. I'm not feeling like that's quite over the target :doh:
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Simple, just turn the gain knob down. I don't get the issues. Compression may be a different story.
 
Bad.Seed said:
I can agree to this. I have the Helios eclipse and it is a raw beast, certainly more gain on tap than a stock 800 or cranked super lead, but the range goes from clean all the way to super high gain across the 3 channels. Its the most vintage sounding high gain amp I've played.
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I’ve only had the regular Helios, but I agree that for a modern made amp it gets really close to vintage tone and feel. I’d also say for me probably the most vintage/organic current made high gain amp I’ve tried and I’ve owned over 100 amps over the years (currently at 23). The Telos was I think even a bit more, but not a high gain amp. The Wizard MTL I still have may be the 2nd best non-vintage best high gain amp I’ve tried in regards to sounding vintage
 
fusedbrain said:
Question for the OP - do you know anything about working on amps, or would any mod work etc need to be done by a tech?
Reason I ask is I'm kinda thinking maybe the best ( and most economical ) bet might be ordering a Ceriatone 2203 without transformers, add some Heyboer iron locally when it arrives, and lightly gain up the circuit while you're in there. ( or just get the JEL, which is basically that :D )

I will also say I'm surprised at the number of suggestions that are either 4 or more gain stages and / or diode clipping designs. I'm not feeling like that's quite over the target :doh:
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I have no knowledge of how to work on amps unfortunately. I think my best bet is to get a JCM 800 and get a boost pedal so I can have the best of both worlds. 800’s are quite the commodity right now.
 
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