Jackson 50 and100watt heads

[straycat]

Ok guys give me a full report on these heads please.My neighbor has one of each and swears by them.INFO please.

[Hotrodder]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

Jackson made them to take advantage of their name in the late 80's.

They were made in England (Laney?).

Only lasted one or two years. (89 for sure)

I think the red speakers in the 4x12's looked cool.

I want one.

Jackson lost all info about them.

That's the full poop, There is just no real info out there

[ October 01, 2003, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Hotrodder ]

[straycat]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

I'm going to try and talk him out of them both.I know where a 4x12 cab is with the red cones.

[taxistationary]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

Didn't the original designer/maker of those amps recently register here and post a topic about how he was the designer or something like that? [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] I think he's around here somewhere or another!

[straycat]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

I was not aware of that John but I'd like to talk to him.I wasn't sure if laney or marshall or hiwatt made them for jackson or if they were a hand made deal.Interesting topic tho'. Thanks for the heads up.

[Hotrodder]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

I found the designer/maker thread.

http://www.jcfonline.com/cgi-bin/ult...;f=12;t=000992

we negotiated for some time and came up with a deal and started building the amps for Jackson..that was around 1992-94

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then why is there a 100 watt halfstack on the cover of my 89 Charvel catalog?

and

these were hand built one at a time in outside of Boston Mass

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hummm There may be a series of amps here. Looking at harmony central reviews I see amps labeled "made in england", and amps labeled "Handmade in the USA by Jackson Electronics, a Division of the Jackson Guitar Company" and some labeled "designed by Steve Mauriello"

Steve if your out there I for one would like a full history, specs etc.. There is just so little information on these amps.

[straycat]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

Yeah I would too. The ones I've seen have made in england on the back what gives?
The head looks so brutal visualy. I'd like to know how they are put together what tubes were used all that tech stuff.

[chrisolson]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

I had a Reference 50 head and cab. The both had silver grilles and looked pretty cool, but my cab wasn't the one with the speakers with red cones. I never opened the cab but I was under the understanding that it was Celestion loaded. I got mine at Bank's, which is a insurance clearing house store. They had a TON of the Reference 100 & 50 amps in the mid 90's, and they could be had for a song. I think I paid about $400 total for my half stack. These amps were all "water-damaged" when a tornado ripped the roof off a warehouse in Texas. The only thing I saw on mine was a little corrosion on the grill. Anyway, mine was stock with Sovtek EL-34 tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes. Very "classic" sounding amp, along the lines of a JCM800. I ran a preamp/processor through my clean channel about 95% of the time though. I ended up trading it off for a bunch of rack gear. That's one amp I wish I had back.

[Tenacity]

Re: Jackson 50 and100watt heads

I also have a Reference 50 head and cab. It has the silver grilles (no red speaker cones). I have a 2 rack space Jackson preamp that looks similiar to the Reference 50 and unlike the later model everyone remembers. I have never seen another similar to mine.

I always thought it sounded very good. Definitely 80s classic sound. However, after picking up a SLO 100R and modified 70s Marshall, I don't use the Reference much anymore. May end up selling it. A good amp though.