Marshall JCM 2000 T.S.L

[ginsambo]

Yeah, that is what I thought about doing, rather than getting an old JMP or 2204. I think the least you can do is the Capacitor mod to take the edge of the red channel. I don't know if choke is over doing it and worth it or not to be honest. BUt the transformer is probably a good bet.

[leftykingv2]

Yeah I have noticed over the past couple days that this "Red" channel has a shit load of gain! According to the book he gave me with it....It says 120 watts into 4,8, or 16 ohms at 5%THD which I think means total harmonic distortion and I also believe the lower the "THD" number the more gain an amp has. I'm not sure about "THD" or what it means though. I just heard that in passing from a friend so it could be wrong.

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

That's a fair price. I haven't checked lately but you should be able to get a used cab for way less than $900. Unless you want new...mind you I think most new cabs are made in China. I prefer the older ones up to 800, so they are usually reasonable. Love the greenbacks...and yeh that orange is sweet!

I think the THD rating is more a rating of the linearity of the amp and not the gain. I could be wrong. Back in the day before my time hi-fi enthusiasts cared about THD as a measure of how little tube distortion the amp had. Quite a diff story from ours LOL!

[DonP]

THD is Total Harmonic Distortion. 5% is fairly clean for a tube amp. It would sound like crap in a solid state system like a current stereo system. Marshalls typically have a lot of output. But when you try to push it past 120 watts, it will distort more instead of putting out more power (Power Tube distortion). If you dialed the gain back and dimed the master volume, you would get 120 watts of fairly clean output.

Gain and output are getting mixed up here.

Gain is the number of times a signal is increased over the original. For example, a typical 12AX7 tube usually has a gain of 100, meaning it will take a signal and make it 100 times bigger. If the gain is too big, you get distortion, which is what we all love.

Output is loudness, like 100watts of output.

Pickups DO NOT HAVE GAIN. THEY ONLY HAVE OUTPUT. You can have low output pickups and high output pickups.

An EMG pickup is a low output pickup combined with a small solid state (transistor or IC) amplifier to increase the output. The amplifier has GAIN to increase the OUTPUT of the EMG.

Old Jackson pickup setups are similar - but the components are separate (passive pickups with OUTPUT thru an amplifier ith GAIN to increase the output).

Here is an easy test - in order to have GAIN, you must have POWER like a battery or plug into the wall outlet. You can't have GAIN without it.

You can have output without it - pickups generate their own electricity. Solar cels have output, not gain.

[javert]

In electrical engineering terms, gain can be less than one (i.e., an attenuation). It's like with acceleration. Acceleration can be negative which means that whatever you're measuring on is slowing down. In layman's terms, you would probably call this decelleration, but in mathematical and physical terms, it's the same phenomenon and is called the same.

[Hellbat]

Like my high school physics teacher explained to me in 1985. "Speed is glorious. Speed does not kill. High negative accelleration kills with great effect though!"

[ginsambo]

Yeah the clean/crunch channel is sweet isn't it?

The stock G75 speakers do have a tendency to sound fizzy, boomy and trebly and lack the mids so not a great combo with the amp IMO. Of course Greenbacks would be great.

I think the red channel is OK on my DSL, well I don't have a choice now do I.... But so long as you stick on lead 1 and not lead 2 and set the gain no more than 4 or 5 and don't push any buttons like Deep or Toneshift etc. I also have the presence rolled back to zero.

The best thing about these amps is their voicing when you are playing in a band or along to records, what you formerly though was brittle and thin, suddenly cuts a huge great slice out for itself out of the bands EQ. You can be heard and its sounds good.

I don't know what they were thinking when they made these amps. I guess 25% broad appeal 30% versatility and budget and 45% modern metal.

I'm old enough to remember when solid state fizz was introduced and popularly praised as a gift from the gods, but I'm not old enough to remember cursing my valve amp for having to be driven at max volumes and having to pay top dollar for boutique pedals to get the sound I wanted. The grass is always greener I guess. I think this amp is somewhere in the middle. It's a great amp on a budget and as long as you don't overcook the gain, it gives you some nice tones, but they are not built like tanks like they used to be and are not as reliable.

I am thoroughly confused about the science of it, I prefer to believe it is magic.

[ps43203]

Just stay away from tung-sol preamp tubes, every time I put one in my dsl it sounded harsh and brittle. I use ironically, mesa branded tubes, which are usually chinese or russian, they sound killer in the dsl . These amps are the best for band play, you cut though every time like mentioned prior. That is why you see dsl 100's on the big stage very often. They are not boutique but they are a workingman's amp, probably one of the best amps Marshall has ever made. They get the job done, period.

[slayer]

Just stay away from tung-sol preamp tubes, every time I put one in my dsl it sounded harsh and brittle. I use ironically, mesa branded tubes, which are usually chinese or russian, they sound killer in the dsl . These amps are the best for band play, you cut though every time like mentioned prior. That is why you see dsl 100's on the big stage very often. They are not boutique but they are a workingman's amp, probably one of the best amps Marshall has ever made. They get the job done, period.

Tung Sol pre-amp tubes are great in certain amps. If you need a strong kick in the butt on your amp put one in V1 and it does that. On Marshalls, it is what you say, probably over does that effect. I use them and not use them depending on the amp.