Modern Marshall JCM 800?

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An old JCM800 or JMP2203 with a good boost is one the top 5 best high gain sounds I feel I’ve had myself so far. The Cameron and Monomyth mods are also great and have their own qualities to offer like tightness, sharp attack or thickness, but I still overall prefer a good stock Marshall boosted. I’ve tried most Marshall-esque amps out there except for just Larry and Naylor and none of them to me were as good as a real old Marshall. For reference, I’ve owned the following for Marshall-y amps: Bogner Helios, several Friedman’s (tried ‘em all except the JEL), Metroplex, 2 Gower’s, Mezzabarba Mzero Overdrive, Mesa/Boogie Stiletto Trident Stage II, Henning Cherry Bomb, Massotti X100M, Bogner XTC 101B, Langner DCP-1 with Hyper mod and have tried all the Splawns from the whole range of years, Landry, Reeves Super 78, Roccaforte, Germino, Brunetti 059 and others I’m blanking out on probably
 
timeghost said:
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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Hold on a second..... don't you already have a re-issue JCM800?
timeghost said:
That's what I am doing now. I have a reissue from 2014. I was also looking at Friedmans, so I think I'll check those out too. Thanks!
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What re-issue from 2014?
I was thinking you wanted another amp similar to the JCM800 you already owned, but tighter and with more gain,
If you don't already have an JCM800, but want that tone, then yeah, just get an 800 and a Boss SD-1 and you're set.
 
fusedbrain said:
Hold on a second..... don't you already have a re-issue JCM800?

What re-issue from 2014?
I was thinking you wanted another amp similar to the JCM800 you already owned, but tighter and with more gain,
If you don't already have an JCM800, but want that tone, then yeah, just get an 800 and a Boss SD-1 and you're set.
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No, you’re right. I have one and misspoke. I meant to say find a boost pedal that I like.
 
timeghost said:
No, you’re right. I have one and misspoke. I meant to say find a boost pedal that I like.
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If you’re after tightness, the SD-1 like fusedbrain said is a good choice, especially for the price, but the best I’ve had for tightening have been my old rack PQ’s, particularly the Audioarts 4100. The TC 1140 and Furman PQ-3 are overall better sounding rack PQ’s than the 4100, but can’t get quite as tight. If you want a boost more for just a thick and growly kick in the balls then definitely the Thorpy Heavy Water is the best I’ve tried, but not a tightener
 
800's are a commodity?
You have an 800 now.
Runt 20s are too modern.
I feel like we're being trolled.
Just sayin. Hope I'm wrong.
 
timeghost said:
No, you’re right. I have one and misspoke. I meant to say find a boost pedal that I like.
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Have you tried double boosting? That's what I do with mine so I can keep the gain control lower on the amp itself to keep the low end from getting flubby. Clean boost first, then an my Mesa Grid Slammer to follow it and it sounds nasty, ultra tight, not overly noisy. This alone turns a good quiet JCM 800 into an absolute firebreather while maintaining it's core tone as closely as possible.
 
braintheory said:
An old JCM800 or JMP2203 with a good boost is one the top 5 best high gain sounds I feel I’ve had myself so far. The Cameron and Monomyth mods are also great and have their own qualities to offer like tightness, sharp attack or thickness, but I still overall prefer a good stock Marshall boosted. I’ve tried most Marshall-esque amps out there except for just Larry and Naylor and none of them to me were as good as a real old Marshall. For reference, I’ve owned the following for Marshall-y amps: Bogner Helios, several Friedman’s (tried ‘em all except the JEL), Metroplex, 2 Gower’s, Mezzabarba Mzero Overdrive, Mesa/Boogie Stiletto Trident Stage II, Henning Cherry Bomb, Massotti X100M, Bogner XTC 101B, Langner DCP-1 with Hyper mod and have tried all the Splawns from the whole range of years, Landry, Reeves Super 78, Roccaforte, Germino, Brunetti 059 and others I’m blanking out on probably
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That's a pretty solid endorsement.. I also love the boosted tone. I just find the gain to sound more pleasant and you can shape it however you like i.e more bass, chewier, tighter etc. It gets expensive as well with all the boosts and OD's I have bought but much easier to flip those than an amp.
 
Bad.Seed said:
Have you tried double boosting? That's what I do with mine so I can keep the gain control lower on the amp itself to keep the low end from getting flubby. Clean boost first, then an my Mesa Grid Slammer to follow it and it sounds nasty, ultra tight, not overly noisy. This alone turns a good quiet JCM 800 into an absolute firebreather while maintaining it's core tone as closely as possible.
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1000% .. OD is my core tone and then for lead kick, I have a clean boost or OD before the OD so that it sends it futher into the statosphere....of tone! That's the nice thing about 800's, they take double boosts well. Doesn't get too messy.
 
For tight boosts try the SD-1 first. If you have a couple hundred bucks, get the JHS Bonsai and have access to more flavour of boosts. Then for a hidden gem, try the EWS little brute drive. That thing is really really good into a Marshall circuit. Very tight.
 
japetus said:
I would say 99% of the time, when people have a 2203/04 and don't like something about it, they either aren't playing it loud enough, or they suck.
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Yup, it needs a bit of volume. At least get it up to 2 on the MV
 
If you’re serious about keeping price low and don’t care for aesthetics Laney aor 50mv mid eighties ( six knob ) is a true jcm 800 circuit with an added stage up front with some tonestack mods on push pull pots.
 
I really like the Friedman Phil X. It’s got an 800 vibe with more gain and a few tone shaping features plus a great loop. I prefer it to a 2204 with an SD-1 but that combo is killer too.
 
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Monomyth said:
If you’re serious about keeping price low and don’t care for aesthetics Laney aor 50mv mid eighties ( six knob ) is a true jcm 800 circuit with an added stage up front with some tonestack mods on push pull pots.
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I have one (should say had as I gutted it and it is a 2204 now) and I would say that it is a few parts removed from an 800 but it was either too thin or too bass heavy. The values they used for the push/pull should probably be played with a bit in my opinion but at volume, it was def a respectable amp. Not as good as an 800 with a boost though. In fact, I thought it sounded best with a digitech bad monkey or other TS in front of it. In hindsight, sort of wish I had not gutted it but am too lazy to put it all back lol. I doubt you would find the 6 knobbers that easy anymore though. I got mine for 450$ canadian a decade ago.. that was a solid deal. But so was the jcm800 I got for 900$
 
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