Old People: How did you feel about the JCM800 at the time of its release?

[shar-vell Dan]

Best medium size gig tone i ever heard was about 25 years ago where i lived. I saw tons of bands play at this club all different amps & guitars.
This guys first set was a JCM-800 2203 1/2 stack. He looked & played like Ted Nugent. Incredible tone.
End of 1st set i went and talked with him. Asked about his gear / pedals.
Just a Gibson guitar straight in turned 1/2 way up, no pedals.
Stand you up against the wall killer tone in a very good way.
That guy did everything right that night.

 

[rsm]

Best medium size gig tone i ever heard was about 25 years ago where i lived. I saw tons of bands play at this club all different amps & guitars.
This guys first set was a JCM-800 2203 1/2 stack. He looked & played like Ted Nugent. Incredible tone.
End of 1st set i went and talked with him. Asked about his gear / pedals.
Just a Gibson guitar straight in turned 1/2 way up, no pedals.
Stand you up against the wall killer tone in a very good way.
That guy did everything right that night.

there's something about a good guitar directly into a good Marshall that's tough to equal IMO; especially if the guitarist knows how to use both together as a complete system

 

[VH1R2]

I know they're renowned amps now but how did people feel about them when they first hit the scene? I was listening to an interview with Steven Fryette where he talks about how much we hated them at the time for being too thin and bright. So much so that he would always mod backline rentals from parts at RadioShack to make them "usable". Curious if that was the general consensus before eventually finding their mark later in hair metal.

View attachment 346946

That's how I remember it

 

[phil b]

I saved for a year doing all kinds of odd jobs as a kid and ordered the "new" JCM800 50 watt cause I didnt have enough for the 100. I was a kid and my concert of choice was Priest in Texas, where they had all JCM800s on the stage. That was my drug at the time! Day finally arrives and I get the head home and plug it into a home made 1x12 cab cause thats all I had. Now picture it... Single coil stock strat with a thin plywood 1x12 cab with maybe a Jensen speaker? in it. Didnt matter cause I had my brand spanking new JCM800 and I was gonna sound like Judas Priest!!

I took my proline cable and plugged that guitar in expecting magic. Had the volume up pretty loud and broke into the opening riff of Sinner.
WTF?? Thought there was something wrong with the amp...etc. LOL That was a much needed but hard lesson about what goes into making a good sound. I had no idea amps needed boosts..

Fast forward a few years later and I got a matching JCM800 cab but the amp still didnt have enough gain for me. I brought it to Ken Fischer of Trainwreck that completely rebuilt the preamp section and modded some of the power section. That amp sounded fantastic after that. A year later I wanted a 68 plexi so I sold the JCM. Still regret selling it to this day.

 

[SonVolt]

I saved for a year doing all kinds of odd jobs as a kid and ordered the "new" JCM800 50 watt cause I didnt have enough for the 100. I was a kid and my concert of choice was Priest in Texas, where they had all JCM800s on the stage. That was my drug at the time! Day finally arrives and I get the head home and plug it into a home made 1x12 cab cause thats all I had. Now picture it... Single coil stock strat with a thin plywood 1x12 cab with maybe a Jensen speaker? in it. Didnt matter cause I had my brand spanking new JCM800 and I was gonna sound like Judas Priest!!

I took my proline cable and plugged that guitar in expecting magic. Had the volume up pretty loud and broke into the opening riff of Sinner.
WTF?? Thought there was something wrong with the amp...etc. LOL That was a much needed but hard lesson about what goes into making a good sound. I had no idea amps needed boosts..

Fast forward a few years later and I got a matching JCM800 cab but the amp still didnt have enough gain for me. I brought it to Ken Fischer of Trainwreck that completely rebuilt the preamp section and modded some of the power section. That amp sounded fantastic after that. A year later I wanted a 68 plexi so I sold the JCM. Still regret selling it to this day.

If only the internet had existed in '83. Even in the '90s gear was a mystery to me.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Same here philb. Couldn’t wait to get home and fire mine up. Sounded like shit. Rockabilly surf shit….

 

[phil b]

Same here philb. Couldn’t wait to get home and fire mine up. Sounded like shit. Rockabilly surf shit….

That was supposed to be the greatest day of my life until that point and man it just sucked more than anything that had sucked before. WHERE IS JUDAS PRIEST?? THAT DONT SOUND LIKE JUDAS PRIEST!! I laugh at it now but man...what a bummer! LOL. Oh and I forgot to mention that I had a bunch of my buddies over to hear how glorious it was gonna be!

 

[SonVolt]

"dude I think it's broken"

"shoulda got a Laney man"

 

[CarlF]

Well in 1982 we all liked them but nobody could afford them.
There was one Marshall dealer in town and we all went there to drool which we all do now from home with computers.
Later in 82' i bought a 1979' JMP 2204 from the same guy for $375.

Yup, there is the JMP I owned from '75 till the 800. IMO, this was the best sound I ever got w/ Strats. It was so easy. I had a 50 and 100 at different times.
Saw Randy Hansen w/ these in '78. Again, killer Strat tones.

 

[JackBootedThug]

That was supposed to be the greatest day of my life until that point and man it just sucked more than anything that had sucked before. WHERE IS JUDAS PRIEST?? THAT DONT SOUND LIKE JUDAS PRIEST!! I laugh at it now but man...what a bummer! LOL. Oh and I forgot to mention that I had a bunch of my buddies over to hear how glorious it was gonna be!

Dude…luckily I was alone. I was so pissed bro. I called the dealer up and jumped his shit….

 

[rsm]

If only the internet had existed in '83. Even in the '90s gear was a mystery to me.

guitar magazines were the only info we had, unless someone had the gear or knew someone. we used to go to 48th street in NYC to the music stores just to look around before they'd throw us out / ask us to leave, if you didn't have money good luck trying anything.

 

[rsm]

...and this?

the spandex years...

 

[rsm]

 

[phil b]

"dude I think it's broken"

"shoulda got a Laney man"

I did eventually get a Laney.. I shit you not it broke down within a month and sent it off under warranty thru the store. It took so long to be repaired they refunded me purchase price. LOL

 

[inyarak74]

Love reading your stories guys of time gone by! Wish I would’ve went down those roads. No regrets though. I gotta get a Marshall! Never had one. 5150 and a Paul

 

[tallcoolone]

I saved for a year doing all kinds of odd jobs as a kid and ordered the "new" JCM800 50 watt cause I didnt have enough for the 100. I was a kid and my concert of choice was Priest in Texas, where they had all JCM800s on the stage. That was my drug at the time! Day finally arrives and I get the head home and plug it into a home made 1x12 cab cause thats all I had. Now picture it... Single coil stock strat with a thin plywood 1x12 cab with maybe a Jensen speaker? in it. Didnt matter cause I had my brand spanking new JCM800 and I was gonna sound like Judas Priest!!

I took my proline cable and plugged that guitar in expecting magic. Had the volume up pretty loud and broke into the opening riff of Sinner.
WTF?? Thought there was something wrong with the amp...etc. LOL That was a much needed but hard lesson about what goes into making a good sound. I had no idea amps needed boosts..

Fast forward a few years later and I got a matching JCM800 cab but the amp still didnt have enough gain for me. I brought it to Ken Fischer of Trainwreck that completely rebuilt the preamp section and modded some of the power section. That amp sounded fantastic after that. A year later I wanted a 68 plexi so I sold the JCM. Still regret selling it to this day.

So true. I saved up and spent everything I had on my first Marshall head. After 10min I was like, "WTF am I going to do with this thing"

 

[kurtsstuff2003]

Yes I'm an old fuck and never used 800's always JMP's so there! But! I have farted around with them (800's) but could never get out of them what the JMP's gave me.

 

[kurtsstuff2003]

My Classic 120/120 power amp was chock full of 8 Sylvania 6L6's, and Chinese 9th gen 12's as well. What a beast of an amp. I preferred that amp over the VHT at the time. Was the last power amp I owned. When I sold it I took all the tubes out and replaced with Sovteks lol, they were dirt cheap. Was well stocked when I bought the OG 5150 with the same tubes. Honestly at that time tubes weren't a big deal but I just thought, I'm keeping those. Little did I know they were basically no more. When I got the 5150 script logo as backup to the OG, out with those tubes in with the Sylvania's.

One of the most overlooked and underappreciated power amps ever! They sound great! But...they weigh a fuckton because each channel has power and output tranny's it really was 2 amps in one. Most power amps share a power transformer.

 

[jabps]

One of the most overlooked and underappreciated power amps ever! They sound great! But...they weigh a fuckton because each channel has power and output tranny's it really was 2 amps in one. Most power amps share a power transformer.

Yep they do, to me it sounded better than my VHT at the time, bigger and punchier. But it was a beast. I had forgotten to secure my rack in my truck one time, thing slid across the bed, slammed into the other side and I thought I had been hit by another car. Amp was fine lol, truck had dents.

 

[JiMB]

Never liked them. I started with metal panel Super Leads, ‘69, ‘71 and ‘73. Didn’t like the sound or looks of the 800’s.