The JCM900slx is the best Marshall 👹👹

  • Thread starter Thread starter ChuggNorris
  • Start date Start date
Smash said:
Not to shit on anyone's amp, but try a helios before buying. Next to the top amps, it is pretty vanilla imo
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My experience too. I had a 900mkIII which is the previous version of the SL-X and I was very happy with it until I compared it to higher end amps and even an ‘84 JCM800. Made it sound like a toy mainly due to the low end sounding artificial. It didn’t have nearly the thump it pretended to have compared to the other amps.

I’ve also got to the play the EL34 SL-X and it was very identical to my 2100 mkiii. To be fair I havent played the 6L6 version which seems to be the one to get but I couldn’t imagine it being that much better but maybe I’m wrong 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
glpg80 said:
Hotter bias gets away from crossover distortion. Percentage numbers mean nothing without knowledge of the plate voltage. The goal is not to be biased so hot you’re introducing third order harmonics in the power side but not so cold you’re biased hard class B and introducing crossover distortion in a class AB grid biased amplifier. There’s a sweet spot.
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….or just use your ears.
 
I was actually pretty impressed with the Helios and Telos. The Helios isn’t the biggest or punchiest sounding amp, its main weakness, but for something non-vintage was very raw and organic with a really good juicy midrange growl that reminded me of a late ‘70’s JMP2203. Good feel too. I’m surprised how underrated they ended up being. One of the better Bogner’s imo and maybe to me the best one they made in at least the last decade or so

I had one at the same time also a Gower Rockmonster and my friend and I were surprised how similar they actually seemed when compared and slightly preferred the Helios
 
acidvoodoo said:
Not what I was expecting to read in this thread. Shit lol. I have one in route, arriving Friday!
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Lol. One man's opinion. And i was playing next to uber ultras and hellions. Besides, plenty of amps sound great when not in the same room with the big boys.
 
Meh.

The SLX IS a cool amp; easily the best out of the 900 line and that's including the 6100 anniversary models. If you have the ability to run it at a high volume, they slay....but....just not as good as
A boosted 2203/4
A stock/boosted 86-90 2205/10
A Jubilee
A boosted JMP/Superlead/or modded any of the above.

It's kinda like the DSL thing...they sound good....are cheap...easily replaceable...but when you compare the DSL to the aforementioned amps, they pale. Just like the SLX pales.
It IS a good amp, absolutely.

When it comes to cold/hot biasing, if we are talking Rectifier cold then HELL NO when it comes to a Marshall. That will sound like a shit sandwich. I usually say, somewhere between 30 and 40ma on a Marshall or Marshall style amp will be good. If it sounds the same at 30 v 40, then keep it at 30 to save your tube life.

But cool/low bias works best with amps that rely mostly on preamp gain for their sound; vs most Marshalls that use power tube compression/distortion as a big part of that sound.
 
PurityS.L.G said:
My experience too. I had a 900mkIII which is the previous version of the SL-X and I was very happy with it until I compared it to higher end amps and even an ‘84 JCM800. Made it sound like a toy mainly due to the low end sounding artificial. It didn’t have nearly the thump it pretended to have compared to the other amps.

I’ve also got to the play the EL34 SL-X and it was very identical to my 2100 mkiii. To be fair I havent played the 6L6 version which seems to be the one to get but I couldn’t imagine it being that much better but maybe I’m wrong 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Must have been yours...
And the mkiii is not an SLX.
Another misconception.
It's not "basically an SLX"
Or whatever people say.
I wish people would stop 🤣

And sounding like a toy?
You had issues either way.
Probably not the amps fault.
Probably user error/lack of maintainence/bad dialing etc etc... I'm going with any of the above based on what you just said.

SLX thumps hard as my Diezel.
Very full and big sounding.

"Higher end" is very subjective also.

Alot of "high end" amps have came and gone while my SLX has earned its keep...

🤔

Edit...
Also, he was calling the HELIOS vanilla when compared to other "top amps". You might have misread his response. Seems like it the way you responded to it. lol
 
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Panhead5 said:
Typically I hate most of the 900’s but I had a SLX with 5881’s in it and it sounded great . Of course that meant I had to sell it.
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Glad I held onto mine.

The 6L6 version is beastly.
There were more than just a couple resistor swaps between the 2 models like some say in the swap threads. It was more like 6-7 changes to further make the amp work well for 6l6/5881.

I prefer the headroom and cleaner low end of the 6l6/5881 version for sure.
 
RaceU4her said:
Same here, everyone’s always complaining Marshall should do a “modded” Marshall, I always thought this was supposed to be that
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Those people missed the boat and fell into the water of cork sniffery lolol.

It is definitely the hotrod when properly exploited it goes from plexi to modernized JCM800 and beyond easily with different settings on the masters and sensitivity/gain controls.

It took me a while to actually figure it out...
Spend time with it and it rewards you greatly.
 
acidvoodoo said:
Not what I was expecting to read in this thread. Shit lol. I have one in route, arriving Friday!
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braintheory said:
I was actually pretty impressed with the Helios and Telos. The Helios isn’t the biggest or punchiest sounding amp, its main weakness, but for something non-vintage was very raw and organic with a really good juicy midrange growl that reminded me of a late ‘70’s JMP2203. Good feel too. I’m surprised how underrated they ended up being. One of the better Bogner’s imo and maybe to me the best one they made in at least the last decade or so

I had one at the same time also a Gower Rockmonster and my friend and I were surprised how similar they actually seemed when compared and slightly preferred the Helios
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I love the helios - especially the eclipse. It's one of my favorite bogners. Especially with greenback or blackback style speakers.
 
Racerxrated said:
Meh.

The SLX IS a cool amp; easily the best out of the 900 line and that's including the 6100 anniversary models. If you have the ability to run it at a high volume, they slay....but....just not as good as
A boosted 2203/4
A stock/boosted 86-90 2205/10
A Jubilee
A boosted JMP/Superlead/or modded any of the above.

It's kinda like the DSL thing...they sound good....are cheap...easily replaceable...but when you compare the DSL to the aforementioned amps, they pale. Just like the SLX pales.
It IS a good amp, absolutely.

When it comes to cold/hot biasing, if we are talking Rectifier cold then HELL NO when it comes to a Marshall. That will sound like a shit sandwich. I usually say, somewhere between 30 and 40ma on a Marshall or Marshall style amp will be good. If it sounds the same at 30 v 40, then keep it at 30 to save your tube life.

But cool/low bias works best with amps that rely mostly on preamp gain for their sound; vs most Marshalls that use power tube compression/distortion as a big part of that sound.
Click to expand...


Sounds like maybe you played one but didn't own one for very long. I disagree completely. This amp does what a boosted 800 does in stock trim with big glass in it. We can agree to disagree though.

But I always will agree on lowering the bias especially if you push the power section more toward the plexi side of tones. Clean headroom stays much better with the lower bias points at volume.
 
ChuggNorris said:
Sounds like maybe you played one but didn't own one for very long. I disagree completely. This amp does what a boosted 800 does in stock trim with big glass in it. We can agree to disagree though.

But I always will agree on lowering the bias especially if you push the power section more toward the plexi side of tones. Clean headroom stays much better with the lower bias points at volume.
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The SLX is a thinner sounding amp than any of the amps I mentioned preferring. It's not a 'thin' amp per say; just not as 'full' and 'big' sounding as those I preferred. Which is a common theme for all of the JCM 900 line.
It's like the AFD amp; cool amp but very thin sounding compared to a good 800/JMP.
 
braintheory said:
I was actually pretty impressed with the Helios and Telos. The Helios isn’t the biggest or punchiest sounding amp, its main weakness, but for something non-vintage was very raw and organic with a really good juicy midrange growl that reminded me of a late ‘70’s JMP2203. Good feel too. I’m surprised how underrated they ended up being. One of the better Bogner’s imo and maybe to me the best one they made in at least the last decade or so

I had one at the same time also a Gower Rockmonster and my friend and I were surprised how similar they actually seemed when compared and slightly preferred the Helios
Click to expand...


Still want to try a Helios because I swear every amp some people say lacks punch... sound punchy as fuck the way I dial and play the damn things. I think this is where picking hand pressure and technique seperate some perceptions based on user.

Anyway.... either a helios or an XTC I'd like to try. Then again the Headfirst Evil Joe is really caught my eye.

This is what's funny to me, when I'm switching back and forth between a herbert and an SLX which is currently my preferred pairing... for some raunchy riffs I PREFER the SLX. Channel 2 on the herb almost comes off as muffled when going back to back. There's more mid aggression in the SLX and the thump is dialed the same. The SLX feels better but I like the herbert feel alot also. I swear it's like I want to like the herbert better because of how expensive it was. But when I play.... I tend to actually prefer the SLX. Together it's very punishing.
 
Racerxrated said:
The SLX is a thinner sounding amp than any of the amps I mentioned preferring. It's not a 'thin' amp per say; just not as 'full' and 'big' sounding as those I preferred. Which is a common theme for all of the JCM 900 line.
It's like the AFD amp; cool amp but very thin sounding compared to a good 800/JMP.
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This ain't a common 900 and 900s don't sound thin unless you dial them that way.

You used them wrong bro, it's OK.

I'll put the SLX against any boosted 800 you got and not break a sweat doing it.

The 800 cult always cries when anyone steps on the toes. It's okay and I understand. 😘
 
How would a vintage modern fit in there with the 800’s and 900’s? I know it didn’t make an impact and the only clips that I liked were Carl’s. But that’s also another one I was curious about
 
And for some reason I have always wanted a 900…no idea why. The only 800 that I ever owned was the zakk halfstack. On its own I didn’t like it. Running it in stereo with my tremoverb halfstack was awesome.
 
JackBootedThug said:
How would a vintage modern fit in there with the 800’s and 900’s? I know it didn’t make an impact and the only clips that I liked were Carl’s. But that’s also another one I was curious about
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It would be used as their pedestal to stand on.

If you like cleans? VM does that way better.
Crunch, mean mids? Somehow still feels warm but has just enough saturation? SLX.

VM can't hang especially when you open up the power section.

The SLX . ..It can be dialed dry and plexi like though by running masters high and dialing down the preamp... you can decide how much power amp vs preamp is in the signal and tweak it. Probably the most misunderstood and non explored concept of the amp. Makes for many marshall possibilities. It's the most versatile single channel amp you'll have if you actually explore these controls in depth.

JackBootedThug said:
And for some reason I have always wanted a 900…no idea why. The only 800 that I ever owned was the zakk halfstack. On its own I didn’t like it. Running it in stereo with my tremoverb halfstack was awesome.
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The 900 hate is unwarranted. And it started because of the signal paths being not all tube. The 800 crowd was having modders up the ante and mardhall answered all the gripe. And in my opinion outshined the others with a single channel hotrod, full tube signal. Extra gain stage that's more tweakable than a typical "hotrodded 800". The dual masters and gain+sensitivity controls were ahead of their time and obviously still misunderstood by many.

It has that marshall kerrang and a little bit of pleasant glassiness on the attack, so it is marshall through and through. It's just alot more capable of being nasty and mean in all the right ways. The 6l6 holds together and unless you're playing old cockrock, I'd get a 6l6/5881 version and bring the bias down to 36 at idle.
 
I had an el34 SLX back in 2001-2002, I wanna say? I bought that and a jcm 800 2210 at the same time off a guy for 500 Canadian each.

I really dug it and it is definitely an amp you can dial in to sound and respond really good....or really bad. A friend in another band absolutely loved it and since I was playing more of my Pittbull ultralead come 2003ish, I sold it to him.

As for Bogners, @ChuggNorris the Helios and Ecstasy are up there as two of my favorite Bogners, with my old 96 Ecstasy being the top. Definitely worth a try.
 
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