JCM 800/900

[IRM]

Does anyone here have a Marshall JCM 800 or 900? I was thinking about getting one someday, and I was just curious how they sounded...and what the difference is between the 800 and the 900. Thanks!

[Lordofgain]

Re: JCM 800/900

I will dive right on in here,

JCM800 2203 or 2204 are some of the best darn amps you can buy for straight ahead rock.

The differnces are that the 900's have what is called "diode clipping". This is where they have placed diodes in the signal path that "clip" the ends of the sine waves to get more gain. Some people think that the distortion on these amps are solid state sounding and avoid them, it just depends on what you like and what you want to hear.

Listen to them both and decide for yourself if you like it.

Right now my main amp is a modified 800 that sounds pretty darn good, but that was after extensive nodifications.

If you are playing straight ahead or hard rock it is hard to beat either of these amps.

[ December 11, 2002, 01:21 AM: Message edited by: Lordofgain ]

[RacerX]

Re: JCM 800/900

I have a modded JCM800 combo. It kicks ass!
IRM, you also may want to try the Search function
to find posts about the 800 & 900.

R

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: JCM 800/900

I think everyone above has said it as well as could be...

I hate new Marshalls. But, I ABSOLUTELY love the old Marshall 800 amplifiers.

[OnlineStageGear]

Re: JCM 800/900

I have a JCM800 2205 and it kicks ass. The only reason I don't use it for my main amp is I opted for a rack setup for convience.

Matt

[OklaStrat]

Re: JCM 800/900

FYI - many of the JCM800s that people drool over are yes, DIODE CLIPPING AMPS! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Tube screamers... which people drool over... including the TS808 and TS9, which SRV among others loved... ARE DIODE CLIPPING PEDALS!

Oh, and the boss overdrive that zakk wylde used (uses still?) and the boss pedals that Satriani and Vai use... are yes, diode clipping pedals.

Don't burn an amp just because it has diodes for clipping - how they are used can make for a good tone. I had a JCM800 and a JCM900 - I'd be more likely gig with the 900, since it had two seperate channels instead of my 800's 'one with boost' and the 800 also had horrible bleedthrough on the channels - you'd hear some clean with your dirty, and dirty with your clean. My favorite JCM800s were the single channel with the inputs on top of each other, but you're talking about a one channel amp. If I was looking for that tone, I'd probably get a Peavey VTM head... $150-$300, and they sound GOOD. Kim Thayil from soundgarden recorded with the VTM, and also used them live along with dual rectos after getting the mesa endorsement.

I always dug Caroline's Spine's tones, and they use JCM900s still. Properly set up, they ain't bad at all.

Pete

[Cack]

Re: JCM 800/900

Hurray Oklastrat! Now get over to my post and tell me how you set up a JCM900 properly! I still haven't decided on what tubes to get! So far I'm heading twords the Svetlana 6l6GC's and Chineese 12AX7 preamps. Is this a wise choice of preamp? , I usually wouldn't buy anything made in China but I 've been hearing good things about these preamps. Also does that 100watt to 50watt switch on the back make the amp distorte at lower volumes?

[Angel_of_Death]

Re: JCM 800/900

I have a Jcm 800 100 watt 2203 head and it kicks ass. It has EL-34 tubes but I'm going to replace them with 6550s. I wish it had the vertical inputs though. There was a difference between the Vertical and Horizontal inputs heads. The Vertical input heads were the first 800 heads based off the MK2 Master Volume (not quite sure hear) and sounding more crunchy. The Horizontal input heads came into production around 1986-1988(I think). They did something different so they could produce them cheaper but it conflicting with the crunch you would get out of the older models. I'm trying to remember as much as I can from a website that talked about this. If anyone could expand better, please by all means chime in.

[JacksonShredder]

Re: JCM 800/900

I have a JCM800 (model 2205) Half Stack and i love it the best sounding marshall i think.
it has more distortion then the 2203 & 2204's
and is two Chanels with reverb

it is also the Big Brother of Ron's(RacerX)

[OklaStrat]

Re: JCM 800/900

even a 50 watt amp can peel paint... preamp tubes aren't really super critical in the 900s, imho since they do have some diode-ness going on. You're going to get a few benefits from using better tubes, but not as many as say a VHT, bogner, mesa, soldano, CAE rig...

Key to the 800s and 900s is to play em as loud as you can, and run as little preamp gain as you can. This gives a more natural tone. I think both amps are kinda craptacular at bedroom volume.

Pete

[slayer]

Re: JCM 800/900

I have a 1993 VHT Pittbull CL-100 Combo [img]graemlins/drool2.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] and love it for really high gain stuff, which of these Marshalls has the most balls for the stuff I play, as in old Metallica and Slayer [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] and Testament(first 2 albums) stuff? Jack.

[Lordofgain]

Re: JCM 800/900

Originally posted by OklaStrat:
even a 50 watt amp can peel paint... preamp tubes aren't really super critical in the 900s, imho since they do have some diode-ness going on. You're going to get a few benefits from using better tubes, but not as many as say a VHT, bogner, mesa, soldano, CAE rig...

Key to the 800s and 900s is to play em as loud as you can, and run as little preamp gain as you can. This gives a more natural tone. I think both amps are kinda craptacular at bedroom volume.

Pete

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once again Pete hits it on the head, at bedroom levels and without extensive mods these amps don't do well.

Slayer, your boy Kerry King has a JCM800 that he insists has been touched by the hand of Satan. I don't know if he is pushing anything on the front end, but at high volume with power tube distortion singing the 800s sound pretty sweet to my ears.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: JCM 800/900

I know that not a lot of you dudes probably like him, but Daniel Johns from Silverchair used a Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb on Silverchair's first album, and he got what I think is one of the best distorted tones ever.

[OklaStrat]

Re: JCM 800/900

Remember too that a good producer/engineer can make a lot of stuff work that you'd wonder about otherwise...

Best example I can think of is Jimmy Page using a telecaster and a supro practice amp on MANY of zep's early tunes.

Pete

[Tetsuo]

Re: JCM 800/900

Very true although Zep I would not be the epitome of good tone IMO the point is well amde that a good engineer means a lot. imagine how good And Justice would have sounded with a good engineer